How to Raise a Time Tot
by 10Blue10
Summary: WITH REGRET, THIS STORY HAS BEEN CANCELLED. PLEASE SEE THE FINAL CHAPTER OF CONSEQUENCES FOR THE FULL DETAILS
1. Chapter 1 - Tears and Tiredness

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Hi guys! As promised, I'm writing a side story which covers the gap of time in between chapters eleven and twelve of 'Pregnant Preparations'. It won't be updated as often as 'The TARDIS Family', but it will have a few themed chapters and a lot of cuteness, especially in the early chapters.

Chapter One – Tears and Tiredness

Once Sister Andrea and the other staff were satisfied that both Romana and Emily were both healthy, the Time Lords prepared to leave the TARDIS. This process involved taking Romana back to the TARDIS in a wheelchair, with Emily in a carrier. Then the memories all of all the staff on the ward were wiped, just to be on the safe side; they couldn't have rumours of a new Gallifreyan infant floating around the hospital and then around the galactic sector.

The Doctor collected all records of Emily's existence, and memorised every single detail on them, storing the information away in his mind. Then he tore the papers into tiny pieces, and set fire to them. When they were nothing but ash, he brushed it over to the door. The TARDIS hung in deep space; he opened the door and brushed the ashes out into nothingness.

Romana balked at the idea of going back to their cloud. "It's too dangerous! What if she crawls out the door and off the cloud? Or the cloud evaporates? Don't look at me like that, it could happen!" she'd insisted, on the verge of tears. So to placate her, they landed the TARDIS at Madame Vastra's home. Jenny had all but squealed with glee at the sight of Emily. "Oh, ma'am, she's _adorable_. I'd be quite happy to baby sit her if you ever want me to" she offered at once, cooing at Emily.

Then Strax stomped up and declared "I think, boy, I am much better equipped than you to care for this infant. Unlike you, I am equipped with supplies of first rate lactic fluid".

"So am I, and mine weren't gene spliced! Besides, Romana won't want a Sontaron taking care of her little angel; Emily needs love and tenderness, not military commands and grenades" Jenny retorted. Romana hugged Emily a bit closer to her chest and said "Um, thank you for the offer…both of you…but I can manage".

Jenny looked unconvinced. "Are you sure, ma'am? Looking after a baby is a lot of work" she pointed out, but Romana just pasted on a smile and nodded. "Oh, I know, but Emily and I are psychically linked. She can just tell me what she needs – like now, she says she…needs changing, ah heh, I'm just going to…" Romana fled back to the TARDIS, leaving the others staring after her. The Corsair offered an ominous prediction. "This isn't going to end well".

/

As far as Romana was concerned, looking after Emily would be a piece of cake. She'd memorised all the instructions about how to bathe Emily, change her nappies, and dress her; she'd even practised on a doll! Of course, a doll didn't wriggle as much as Emily…but so long as she stayed with her daughter, and stayed awake, everything would go swimmingly, and her little one wouldn't even have to cry. The problem was that she was exhausted, full of hormones, and generally not thinking straight.

The Doctor, Flavia and the Corsair, as well as Jenny, all offered to help look after Emily, but Romana refused. "I'm fine!" she snapped, when the Doctor tried to convince her to let him put Emily to bed. She began to wail, and Romana simultaneously gave him a death glare whilst attempting to sooth their daughter, rocking her gently. The Doctor backed away slowly, hands up in surrender; it wasn't until he was out of the actual room that Romana calmed down and smiled at Emily, kissing her little head and laying her down in her cot, rocking that as well.

After just two days of attempting to look after Emily on her own, Romana began to wonder if she was going mad. She kept hearing things; Emily crying when she wasn't, footsteps behind her when she was holding Emily that turned out to be the creaks of the TARDIS, and shadows in the nursery that she thought were everything from the Silence to Weeping Angels. "You're not mad, dear. Your maternal instincts are in overdrive but your hormones are messing with your head" the Doctor explained to her, "darling, you need to _rest_".

"No, I'm _fine. _I can manage. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to give Emily a bath" she insisted – before walking out of the nursery. She came back in a moment later, picked Emily up from her cot, and walked out again. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. He _had _to get her to rest; he gave her a couple of minute's head start so she wouldn't realise he was following her, and then he trailed his wife to a bathroom.

What he found when he walked in almost stopped both his hearts. Romana was falling asleep over the bathtub, holding Emily up with one hand; the baby had her fingers curled around strands of Romana's hair as her head drooped over the tub. The Doctor rushed over, pulling Romana back with one hand and holding onto Emily with the other. "Ow!" she winced as Emily pulled her hair, "Wh-what? Oh no, oh dear, I'm sorry, I just"-

"Romana, please, _please _get some sleep and let me take care of Emily" the Doctor insisted firmly, determined not to take no for an answer this time. Romana shook her head helplessly. "I can't, I have to…have to prove…"

"You don't have to prove anything to me, or anyone else"

"_No. _I was trying to prove it to myself, that I could do this, be a mum but I _can't, _I can't do it, I"…Romana dissolved into tears, and Emily, distressed by seeing her mum upset, burst into a wail as well. The Doctor scooped her out of the shallow water and tucked her against his chest with one arm, ignoring the dampness seeping through his sleeve. He put his arm around Romana's shoulders and held them both close, murmuring comforting words and sending them feelings of love until they'd both calmed down.

When Romana had stopped sobbing and was looking at him with red rimmed eyes, he told her "You are a _wonderful_ mother, and you don't need to take care of Emily all by yourself to prove that. Being a mum is supposed to be hard, you're allowed to ask for help, and you have _four_ people willing to look after your baby whilst you rest. I know you were just trying to be a good mum, but this has to stop. If you won't do it for me, then do it for Emily. Just look at this face" he said. Romana looked down at her daughter, who gazed up at her with those lovely blue eyes, and said _Mummy sleep. _

Romana choked out a laugh. "Okay. You're right. I'll go to sleep…will you finish giving Emily her bath?" she asked the Doctor, and Emily grizzled. _No bath! _The Doctor smiled, bouncing her in his arms slightly, and said "Sorry, sweetheart, but you do need a bath. I'll put her to bed and everything, don't you worry" he assured Romana. She got to her feet and began to leave the bathroom, but then she turned back. "What about feeding her? I always feed her before she goes to bed, I'm the only one who can" she pointed out.

"Um, actually Time Tots can drink regular milk and err, your milk…it's a sort of failsafe in case the mother regenerates before the baby is weaned onto more solid food, and she either stops producing milk or turns into a man…didn't you read about that in the books?" he asked. Romana just stared at him, stunned. She slowly turned on her heel and walked away in a daze; he could only hope it was towards their bedroom. _Mummy odd _Emily commented.

"Yeah, your mum has been acting a bit odd lately. She was just trying her best…now, let's give you that bath. Oh, don't grumble, you were going to have a bath sooner or later…"

/

Once he'd given Emily her bath, the Doctor dried her off, put a clean nappy on her, and dressed her in Donna's 'Time Tot' outfit. She looked absolutely adorable, getting cooed and fussed over by Flavia and Jenny alike. The Doctor did a fair bit of fussing himself, but it was _his _daughter after all. Romana's misguided attempt to prove herself led to him not spending much one on one time with Emily, and he was more than making up for it now.

He loved this little girl more than anything else in the entire universe. It made his hearts melt to hold her in his arms, and see her gaze up at him with an endearingly confused expression, like she wasn't sure what to make of him. Her big round eyes were a bright shade of blue, glinting with wonder even now, and her hair was already grown into sweet yellow brown fuzz. She was fond of squirming and wriggling, kicking her little feet energetically. "So much for her not taking after the Doctor, eh?" the Corsair chuckled, "two days old and she's already running".

The Doctor gave Emily a bottle of milk; she was reluctant to drink from it at first, but he managed to convince her it was the milk she normally had, and after that she couldn't get enough of it. Then he cuddled her and read her bedtime stories, all the good ones, until she needed changing again; and then it was time for bed. _Goodnight, my little angel. Sweet dreams _he murmured gently as he laid her in the cot. _Daddy? _

_Yes, sweetheart?_

_Give mummy hug_

_I will, darling, I promise_

He turned the lights to 'night time mode', closed the door softly behind him, and just as quietly opened the door on the right. He got ready for bed, slipped under the covers and wrapped his arms around Romana, burying his nose in her strawberry scented hair.


	2. Chapter 2 - Interesting Introductions

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter Two – Interesting Introductions

**2 Weeks Later **

Romana tipped a bottle of milk and let a little of it drip onto her wrist, testing the temperature. It didn't feel too cool or too hot, so she carried it into Emily's nursery. Her little girl had wanted milk ten minutes ago, but Romana had been asleep and hadn't heard her mental cries. So Emily had begun to cry, and then to scream in earnest. Romana did her best to keep calm. She'd read in a Time Lord parenting book that rushing to fulfil her baby's every whim could make Emily feel self-entitled when she was older.

Emily's eyes were shut tight, her little fists balled and her legs kicking. "Emily, Emily! I've got your breakfast here"Romana told her, feeling waves of hunger and impatience coming off of the infant. Emily peeked at her, and saw the bottle; to Romana's relief her ear splitting cries abated, and she reached up to grasp at thin air, gurgling. Romana carefully lifted her out of her cot, and settled down in the rocking chair.

Soon Emily was drinking contentedly from the bottle, looking up at Romana with those bright blue eyes. "You've got your daddy's eyes, you know" she told Emily, "Well, the eyes he used to have. You've got the hair I used to have as well. Our Emily, half me and half Doctor in one wonderful soul…I love you so much, darling" she murmured, smiling down at her daughter. She sent Emily her love through their bond and felt wisps of love in return, an instinctive display of affection. Her smile grew wider.

_Where daddy? _Emily asked curiously, still drinking. "He's out helping people, but he'll come back soon" answered Romana. After a lot of discussion, the Doctor had reluctantly agreed to go off occassionally and have adventures, save planets and rescue civilisations, whilst she and Emily stayed safe in the TARDIS. He hadn't wanted to leave her, or their daughter, for more than a few hours. This time he'd already been gone for eight hours, she couldn't imagine he'd stay out much longer.

/

At that moment, the Doctor was shaking the furry hands of the Cryoskian World Leaders, after saving their planet from an invasion of a neighbouring species, the Pyroskians. One planet was an Arctic wilderness, with an indigenous and peaceful species that resembled walking, talking polar bears; the other was a volcanic wasteland, with a native and war like species that resembled a cross between a tiger and an eagle. They weren't really like Earth animals at all but that was the easiest comparison.

"We are indebted to you, Doctor" one of the leaders rumbled, "You and your kind will forever be welcome here on Cryoskia". The Doctor thanked him and bowed, then made his lumbering way back to the TARDIS, and walked stiffly up to the console. The Corsair snorted at the sight of him. "Run for your lives, it's the abominable marshmallow!" he cried mockingly.

The Doctor pulled down his hood. "Ha, ha, very funny" he deadpanned, "Just dematerialise us whilst I get out of this thing". After extricating himself from the bulky snowsuit, the Doctor went straight to the nursery, where he found Romana cradling Emily and singing softly. He stood in the doorway listening to her for a minute…she had a beautiful voice. Soon she realised he was there, looked up and smiled at him. The Doctor walked over and knelt beside the chair, smiling down at Emily.

"Hello, girls, did you miss me?" he asked, pulling a funny face. Emily laughed and gurgled, waving her little hands in the air. "I missed you too. I have something for you, Romana" he said, taking Emily from her and placing a neatly wrapped parcel in her lap instead. Curious, Romana opened it to find a soft, silvery fur coat with a snowy lined hood. "Oh, Theta, it's beautiful" she said as she stood up and pulled it on. "It's a gift from the Cryoskians for saving their planet. They're a very generous species, they said we Time Lords would always be welcome there" the Doctor explained.

Romana kissed him on the lips, making Emily grumble that they were being 'icky'. "I love it. I love you" she murmured, "Doctor, I've been thinking. We should visit some of our friends, they were all so excited about Emily, and we haven't even introduced them to her yet" Romana pointed out. The Doctor smiled widely. "That's a brilliant idea! Who do you want to visit first?" he asked. It didn't take Romana long to decide on her answer; "River and Melody".

/

Further investigation revealed that River and Melody were on an excavation site in 21st century China, digging up a large plesiosaurus skeleton. It was very hot, so Romana plastered Emily with factor 80 suntan cream, put a little floppy pink hat on her head and drew the netted cover over her baby carrier. She then proceeded to do the same to herself, apart from the baby carrier thing, much to the Doctor's amusement.

There were a lot of people hard at work, painstakingly brushing and chipping away dirt from the fossilized skeleton. _Wanna see! _Emily demanded, so the Doctor set the carrier down and picked her up, settling her in his arms so she could look at the cliff face. "That's called a plesiosaurus" he explained, spelling it out, "later on we can go see a real live one in the past if you like". Emily gurgled in agreement.

It didn't take them long to find the 'Pond twins'; with their distinctive blond and ginger frizzy hairdos they weren't exactly hard to miss. The Corsair went to alert the two women of their presence whilst the others retreated to the shade of the tents, since Emily was starting to fuss. "Doctor, put her back in her carrier, she's too hot" Romana insisted. The Doctor, still holding Emily in one arm, said "She'll be fine, and besides, she wants to see what's going on".

Romana frowned at him, but then the Corsair returned with River and Melody. "Hello, sweeties!" they both said in unison, laughing. "Gosh, we haven't seen you guys in ages!" Melody commented; then River pointed at the baby in the Doctor's arms. "Is that…?" she asked in a tone of wonder. Romana smiled happily, her annoyance forgotten. "Yes, it is. River, Melody, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Emily Freya Smith".

The sisters showed them into a tent, where they immediately began cooing over Emily. "Oh, you are a sweetie pie aren't you, yes you are, yes you are!" River said in baby talk, before asking shyly, "I don't suppose...would it be alright if I held her?" The Doctor nodded and carefully passed Emily into River's arms. "You are so _cute, _look at you!" said Melody, peering over River's shoulder. Emily fidgeted and gurgled. "What's she saying?" asked Melody.

"She's asking why you're talking so oddly" the Doctor replied, before clarifying "Time Tots like Emily can understand normal adult speech from birth, they just can't speak it. Well, they can, but only telepathically and simply at first".

"So why did you let us talk to her like that?"

"Because it was funny"

"Oh, shut up"

River and Melody had to return to the dig, but they were very glad to have met Emily. "Bring her round to our flat anytime" Melody offered, and River was quick to agree. Back in the coolness of the TARDIS, the Doctor turned to Romana and asked "Who else do you want to visit?"

Romana considered, and finally settled on Martha and Mickey. She'd have liked to see Donna, but the ginger was probably busy with her own children and Romana didn't have the hearts to disturb her. They tracked the Smith-Jones' down to a comfortable looking house on the outskirts of Colchester. The Doctor knocked enthusiastically on the blue door – TARDIS blue! – And heard Martha call from within, "Okay, I'm coming! Be patient, will…Doctor!" she exclaimed, seeing him bouncing on the steps.

"Martha Jones!" the Doctor cheered, hugging his former companion tightly. He pulled back and beamed at her, asking in rapid succession "How've you been? How's Mickey? Can we come in?"

"Sheesh, Doctor, give her a chance to answer" said the Corsair, and the Doctor pouted, much to Martha's amusement. "I'm fine, Mickey's fine, and yes you can come in" she answered the Doctor's questions, before beckoning the Quartet inside. Martha led them to the living room and turned to face them. "So what's the occasion?" she asked, before her eyes fell on the baby in Romana's arms. "Is that..?"

A proud smile burst onto the Doctor's face. "It is! Martha Jones, this is Emily, Emily, this is my friend Martha" he introduced. Martha came closer and had a better look at Emily. "Oh, Romana, she's beautiful. Hello there" she cooed, reaching out to take Emily's tiny hand. The little Time Tot curled her fingers around Martha's thumb, gurgling. "What's she saying?" Martha asked curiously. Romana smiled and answered, "She says hello as well".

Mickey came downstairs, having been in the shower, and sauntered up to the others. "Hey Boss" he greeted the Doctor with a fist bump, grinning, "What are you guys doing here?"

"They've brought someone to meet us" explained Martha, stepping aside so her husband could see Emily. "Oh…wow. You make cute kids, Romana" he complimented – well, sort of – making the Doctor frown. "Hey, I helped make her!" he said petulantly. Romana offered to let Martha hold Emily, carefully passing her to the other woman. Martha rocked Emily, smiling down at her. "How come she has blonde hair?" Mickey asked out of the blue, "you two are brunettes".

"Kids don't always have the same hair colour as their parents, Mickey. Sometimes certain genes can skip a couple of generations" Martha explained, and the Doctor interjected, "Or incarnations; with Time Lords, you see, the genetics for children can be from any of the parent's past incarnations. Remember Jenny?" he asked Martha, who nodded, "She had blonde hair as well, because _I _used to have blonde hair, back in my fifth and sixth incarnations. Emily has inherited Romana's second incarnation's dark blonde hair, and my fourth or fifth incarnation's eyes" he explained.

Martha was keenly interested, and made a note to ask them more questions about their genetics over dinner. Of course, first she had to invite them to stay. "Would you like to have dinner with us?" she asked hopefully; she knew the Doctor didn't really do domestic, but now that he had a baby, maybe he'd changed his mind? "We'd love to, Martha, thank you very much" Romana answered, and the others all nodded in agreement. Martha smiled and gave Emily back to Romana. "Before I start cooking though, there's…something we want to tell you".

Mickey put an arm around her shoulders as Martha smiled happily at the Time Lords. "I'm pregnant" she announced, "five weeks along. We're really excited". There was a pause as the news sunk in, and then many hugs were exchanged, fists bumped and congratulations given. Romana smiled down at Emily, feeling ever so happy. Between Martha's new baby and Donna's twins, her daughter could grow up with good friends, and Romana was determined to make sure that happened.


	3. Chapter 3 - Sitting Telling Stories

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter Three –Sitting telling Stories

_One week later _

"Theta, can I ask you something?" Romana inquired as she snuggled against him, in a rare moment of peace when Emily was fast asleep. "Of course, you can ask me anything" the Doctor replied, smoothing down her hair. Romana sat up and turned to look at him properly. "You know when we went to visit Mickey and Martha? You asked Martha if she remembered someone called Jenny, and I wondered…who is she?"

The Doctor didn't reply, but stared down at their covers, and Romana wished she hadn't asked. "Sorry, if it's private you don't have to"-

"I want to" he said quickly. "I do want to tell you, really, it's just…Jenny was…" the Doctor sighed heavily and revealed, "she was my daughter". Romana's eyes widened slightly in surprise; she remained quiet, waiting for him to elucidate. The Doctor closed his eyes as old memories resurfaced. "Donna and I had just helped Martha stop a Sontaron invasion of Earth…before Martha could leave the TARDIS took off on her own, all the way to a planet called Messaline.

"We were captured, and they made me stick my hand into a progenitor machine. It didn't half hurt. Anyway, it split my DNA, reshuffled it and out popped a teenage soldier" he explained. "And you named her Jenny?" Romana guessed; the Doctor looked regretful and sighed. "No…Donna suggested the name Jenny, after I… after I called her a 'generated anomaly'. Truth is, I didn't really treat Jenny like my daughter, at least not at first. Looking at her brought up too many painful memories, of the children I've lost…I didn't want to let her in and get hurt again, so I pushed her away".

Romana didn't comment, but he could feel her sadness brewing beneath the surface of her mind. "I won't do the same to Emily" he assured her, cupping her cheek. She looked at him with doubt in her eyes and he kissed her. "I promise, I will never push Emily away. It was my last incarnation who met Jenny…by the time he lost Donna, he just pushed everyone away…it really didn't end well. He had a few bad days, but it made _me _realise that I needed people around me. I'm so glad I found you, and that we have Emily. You mean everything to me, Romana".

She smiled, and kissed him back. "I know you love me and Emily, I wasn't feeling sad for us…I was feeling sad for you" Romana confessed, much to the Doctor's confusion. His questioning gaze led her to explain "You said that Jenny 'was' your daughter. Past tense…you lost her".

"…Yeah. She died saving my life…I wanted her to come with me, to show her the universe. I loved her" he admitted, feeling tears prick at his eyes and roll down his cheeks. The bittersweet moment was punctured by Emily's voice in their minds, demanding breakfast. The Doctor quickly wiped his eyes and slipped out of bed, saying "I'll sort her out, you go back to sleep".

He went into the nursery and leaned over the cot, tickling Emily on her stomach. The baby squirmed and giggled, smiling a toothless, drool-y smile. "Hey, sweetheart; I'll bring you some milk in a minute, just be patient, okay?" the Doctor asked, and Emily whined. Patience was not in her vocabulary, literally or metaphorically. The Doctor felt Romana's arms wrap around him from behind. "Hey. I thought you were going back to sleep?"

"I'm not tired. You go and get our princess's breakfast, I'll keep her occupied…and Theta? I'm sure Jenny loved you too" Romana smiled at him, understandingly. The Doctor smiled back; he gave her one more kiss and left to fetch a nice warm bottle of milk for his little girl. Flavia was in the kitchen when he entered, making a cup of tea. "Good morning Doctor" she greeted, "how are Romana and Emily?"

"Morning, Flavia. Romana's fine, Emily is hungry, it's a typical morning" the Doctor said casually, washing his hands and taking one of Emily's bottles from the fridge. "Right, I should've known. Have you got anything interesting on the agenda today?" Flavia inquired as she stirred milk and sugar into her tea. "Um, no, not really. We could visit Arcadia, I suppose, Emily might like to see the flower gardens" the Doctor mused as he mixed nutrient supplements into a bottle of warm milk, pulled on the rubber top and shook it vigorously.

Flavia blew on her tea to cool it somewhat and sipped. "Arcadia would be very nice" she agreed, "I'll mention it to the Corsair if I see him". The Doctor nodded and returned to the nursery with milk in tow. Romana was sitting in the comfortable rocking chair, gently swaying back and forth, cradling Emily on her lap and reading a story to her. "And the three little Sontarons lived happily ever after, the end".

"You'll put her back to sleep if you're not careful" the Doctor said quietly as he crossed the room. Romana smiled up at him, shifting Emily in her arms and taking the bottle. "How do you feel about visiting Arcadia today?" the Doctor asked as he leaned over the back of the chair, gazing fondly down at his girls. "I think it's a wonderful idea. Would you like to go to Arcadia, Emily?"

_What that?_

"No, it's 'what's that'" Romana corrected; she'd been trying to encourage Emily to begin talking – well, thinking – more normally. "Arcadia is great, you'll love it" the Doctor assured Emily, stroking her blonde hair as she eagerly gulped down her milk. After breakfast, Romana strapped Emily with great care into a seat beside the console. They materialised the TARDIS in the gardens of Arcardia – tall, imposing columns wreathed with ivy like climbing plants flanked a wide avenue of grey brick, long since worn smooth with weather and time.

Emily sat in her little TARDIS blue pushchair, looking out with wide eyes at the beautiful myriad of colours spread all over the garden, from exotic flowers of every description. The Doctor pushed her along and happily named all the different kinds of flowers, from Venusian Orchids with their vivid scarlet, to giant daisies big enough for Emily to sit on. She sat in the middle of pure white petals, giggling at funny faces her dad and the Corsair made, and pulled fistfuls of yellow pollen off the middle of the flower. They had to take her off the daisy after that, to avoid the wrath of a moody looking attendant.

They found a little corner of the garden, surrounded by lavender beside a little koi pond, where they could sit and chat in the sunshine whilst Emily napped. Except that the little Time Tot had no intention of napping, and threatened to make such a noise that Romana decided to simply sit Emily between her legs and let her play with rag dolls. Flavia had knitted doll versions of the four of them for Emily…it was one of the calm things she did to 'keep her sanity intact'.

"What shall we talk about?" asked Romana, before continuing, "In fact, I've got a really good story. When I was seventy, my parents got me an air car for my birthday. The thing is", she snickered, "thing is, I didn't actually know how to fly it. I'd just convinced them I did; but I knew how to drive a shuttle, and I figured the principle was the same; it was just in the air instead of on the ground. So I got into the car, and I somehow managed to take off…you know how a bumblebee flies? Swerving from side to side, going in circles, really erratic…that was me.

"Honestly, I really tried to get it under control; I thought something must have been wrong with the car itself, because I was sure I was doing it right…eventually I got the hang of it, and things were going really well, until I _had to come back down. _Long story short, I crashed right into my House. I didn't get hurt, except for a few cuts from broken glass, but boy was I in deep trouble. I had to clean the whole thing up and pay for damages…but I don't regret being that reckless. I was a teenager, and I'd never done anything that daft before, it felt sort of _liberating, _you know what I mean?"

The Doctor gazed at her with an impressed expression on his face. _I was wrong. You could have fit in perfectly with the Deca _he told Romana. _I doubt it, but that's sweet of you to say _she replied, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him. "That is a good story" the Corsair complimented, before adding "But as reckless things go, it's not exactly high up on the list. _Reckless _is going to Earth and convincing the Ancient Assyrians that you're a God".

"Tell me you didn't" Flavia sighed, so the Corsair shrugged and said "Okay, I won't". Romana and the Doctor sniggered, and then Emily giggled as well because they were laughing. "It's not like I _told _them to worship me" the Corsair tried to defend himself, "they just happened to see my TARDIS appear out of thin air, so they thought I was the living embodiment of Anu, the Sky God. I didn't have the heart to tell them otherwise and they weren't trying to sacrifice anyone to me – well, except for a few goats but I'm sure they had it coming. I got bored after a week and went off with the temple cat, Mitsy".

"The Assyrians named their temple cat 'Mitsy'?" Romana asked doubtfully. The Corsair shook his head. "Nah, that's just what I called her; she was a good cat. You know, I heard babies really like pets…" he hinted, glancing at the Doctor. Of course the other Time Lord just blinked at him obliviously and asked "Don't you think Emily is a bit young to have a pet? I mean, she can't even sit up on her own yet" he pointed out. Emily babbled to herself, enthusiastically batting wool-Corsair and wool-Doctor against each other, ignoring the adults completely.

The Corsair rolled his eyes. "I meant for me, you idiot. I'm going to get a cat – or a parrot. Parrots are cool. Oh God, did I really just say that? You're rubbing off on me" he complained to the Doctor, who gave a smug smile before the Corsair's words dawned on him. "But- but – cats have claws! Sharp claws, and parrots have sharp beaks; what if Emily got hurt? No, no. I'm sorry, but I can't take the risk".

"Do you seriously think I'd get a pet that might hurt Emily? You're not the only one who cares about her, you know"

"Corsair, this isn't a big issue"

"Well even if I did say yes, you'd still have to convince the TARDIS, and you _know _how stubborn she can be. She won't want cat hairs and bird feathers lying about everywhere"

"Please, both of you, stop arguing"

"I'd clean them up! See, I'm actually responsible, unlike"-

"Don't you dare say unlike me. You want responsible, Corsair, try keeping the two people you love most safe from _your _enemies"-

"It's your own fault you have enemies!"

Emily began screaming. In an instant, all of the Doctor's anger diminished as he turned to his little girl, trying to comfort her. Romana picked Emily up and cuddled her; when she met the Doctor's eyes, she looked disappointed. The guilt on the Doctor's face was reflected on the Corsair's. They had made Emily cry. "What are we doing?" the Corsair asked rhetorically. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't stop you from having a pet, it's your choice" the Doctor admitted.

"No…it's alright. I guess I was being kind of selfish, just deciding to bring an animal with us. Maybe when Emily's a bit older, I'll get her a pet" the Corsair mused. Emily, who had calmed down by now, announced _Yay want pet! _

/

Hi guys, sorry this update hasn't exactly been speedy. Inspiration was lacking somewhat, and then I had computer troubles, but it's up now! Vworp on!


	4. Chapter 4 - Happy Halloween

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter Four – Happy Halloween

Flavia was in the middle of shaking cereal into her bowl when someone grabbed her shoulders from behind. "Yah!" she shrieked, jumping and sending the box of cornflakes flying. The Corsair promptly cracked up laughing, clutching his stomach. "Priceless! Oh, the look on your face!" he chortled, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. Flavia scowled. "Corsair, that was_ not _funny! Now you've made me spill the cereal everywhere" she complained, looking down at where she'd dropped the box.

The Corsair rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'll clean it up, whatever. By the way, Captain Jack invited me to a midnight Halloween party, "Do you wanna come?" he asked as he went to get a dustpan to clean up the cereal. "No, thank you" she replied as she poured milk into her bowl, and getting a spoon out of the cutlery drawer. "Aw, come on, live a little! Next you'll be saying you're not going trick or treating" the Corsair scoffed. "I'm not. I mean, you know I'm not one for sweets, and all this Halloween stuff just seems a bit silly" she admitted.

The Doctor and Romana stepped into the kitchen with Emily just in time to hear the last part of her sentence. "What?!" the Doctor exclaimed, "You think Halloween is silly? Halloween is not silly, Halloween is fun! Isn't that right, sweetheart?" he asked, playfully tickling Emily in the tummy and making her giggle. "Isn't she the cutest?" her dad grinned, rubbing noses with her, "Yes you are, yes you are!"

Romana smiled fondly at them both before asking, "Corsair, what are you doing?"

"Cleaning up a mess Flavia made"

"I only made it because you startled me"

"It's Halloween; you should have been on your guard"

"I shouldn't have to be on my guard when I'm getting _breakfast_"

"Exactly, that's why I scared you when you least expected it" he smirked at her, chucking away the last of the fallen cornflakes. He grabbed a small pink brain from a bowl on the countertop and tossed it up in the air a couple of times, before biting it in half. "Wan' shum?" he offered Flavia, holding out the marshmallow-y treat. She winced in disgust at his bad manners and shook her head, so he shrugged and popped the rest of the brain in his mouth.

The Doctor bounced Emily in his arms, grinning down at her. "You're looking forward to trick or treating, aren't you?" he asked; she clapped her little hands and giggled, babbling. "Yep, we're gonna get lots of yummy sweets, and you'll be able to play with Liam and Joshua, won't that be fun?" the Doctor asked, and Emily babbled in agreement. "She's less than a month old, she doesn't even have her teeth yet. What is she going to do with sweets?" asked Flavia. The Doctor pouted, and Emily mimicked him, much to Romana's amusement.

Swallowing another mouthful of marshmallow, the Corsair replied "It's not about whether she can eat the sweets, it's about how many her cuteness wrings out of the suckers who're handing them out. It's basically legal extortion" he informed Flavia, and the Doctor frowned. "Hey, we're not taking her along just because people give more sweets to those with cute kids. We're bringing her because this is her very first Halloween, and it's special. The sweets will be a mere bonus" he insisted.

"Exactly, the important thing is that we have a good time and we're together" Romana smiled, kissing Emily on the cheek. Flavia truly hoped that Romana would have the sense not to let Emily eat too many sweets – the idea of a Time Tot who took after the Doctor ending up with a sugar high, or worse, the Doctor himself on a sugar high was a terrifying prospect.

"Little Miss Spoilsport here doesn't want to come trick or treating" the Corsair revealed casually, ignoring her annoyed glare. "Oh, that's a shame. You don't have to come if you don't want to though – does she, Doctor?" Romana asked pointedly. The Doctor didn't appear to notice, and exclaimed, "But you _have_ to come! It's Emily's first Halloween. You don't want to miss your own goddaughter's first Halloween, do you?" he pouted. Then the Corsair asked, "Do you really want to be alone in a _sentient and pretty mischievous TARDIS _on the spookiest night of the year?"

Flavia rolled her eyes and replied, "I just think this whole thing is a lot of nonsense…I'll think about coming, but if I don't I _highly _doubt the TARDIS is going to scare me on purpose" she said confidently. There seemed to be no more to discuss, so they simply went about their morning – making toast, pouring cereal, feeding Emily mashed bananas, and cleaning up the pureed food she enthusiastically smeared across her high chair's tray.

Having come into the kitchen much sooner than the others, Flavia was naturally the first one to finish breakfast. As she walked through the corridors to her room she considered whether she should go trick or treating. _It's not that I want to miss Emily's first Halloween…but there'll be plenty of other Halloweens. It's fine if I miss it just this once…she probably won't even remember this when she's older…honestly, I can't believe the Corsair, trying to convince me the TARDIS would do anything so immature as to-_

The lights that lined the walls and ceiling suddenly flickered and died, plunging Flavia into pitch darkness. "Ha, ha, very funny TARDIS" she said sarcastically, but still the lights did not come back on. Flavia took a few tentative steps forward, saying "Corsair, if this is another one of your silly pranks it isn't funny! Now turn the lights back on, I can't see a thing" she complained. Her foot came down – _crack _– she looked down to see bones on the floor and shuddered. "Okay, they're fake, they must be" she reasoned; she was glad the lights had come on though.

She picked up one of the bones gingerly between her thumb and forefinger, cringing. It certainly felt realistic…not that she knew what bones felt like. If the TARDIS and the Corsair were teaming up to scare her, then it wasn't going to work, but maybe they'd stop if she played along a bit. "Oh, eww, horrid, these nasty bones sure creeped me out, I hope nothing else creepy happens in my room around the corner" she said aloud. Then she waited for a few moments, and when nothing happened, she smiled in satisfaction and walked around the corridor to her room.

The first thing Flavia did was have a shower, and get dressed in her en-suite bathroom. When she emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her damp hair, she saw to her disbelief red liquid dripping down the opposite wall. "No! Ugh, I can't believe the Corsair. He knows I hate mess in my room…what in Rassilon's name is this stuff anyway?" she questioned, wiping a bit of it onto her finger and sniffing it. "It smells like…food colouring and…coolant? I swear; I don't understand that man at all".

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and tried to reach out to the Corsair telepathically, but to no avail. "He's blocking me out, that is just so immature" she sighed, draping her towel over a chair and heading for the door. She fully intended to give the Corsair a piece of her mind, but before she could open the door it opened by itself to reveal a hideous figure. One arm was merely bone up to the shoulder, bloody gashes covered exposed skin and its clothes were tattered. Flavia just stared at it. "Corsair, what in Kasterborous are you _doing_?"

The Corsair pulled off his mask and stared at her in disbelief. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"Annoy me? If that is your goal, then congratulations, you've succeeded"

"I was trying to scare you"

"You already did that this morning"

"Oh, that was just a warm up; are you telling me that the bones on the floor and now my pretty awesome zombie costume all did _nothing _to scare you? Not even a little bit?"

"To be honest I thought it might be the TARDIS playing a _very immature _prank on me…I only worked out it was you with the fake blood, because not even the TARDIS would mix food colouring with coolant and make it leak all over the wall" Flavia explained, but the Corsair looked more confused and revealed, "I didn't put food colouring in the…oh. Wow, that is…really realistic" he praised, admiring the 'blood' coating Flavia's wall. "It's a big mess, that's what it is" she complained.

"Okay, if you want I'll help you clean it up; oh, err, you've got a spider on your shoulder" the Corsair pointed out, and Flavia stiffened. "That's not funny" she said in a more high pitched voice than normal. "Erm, I wasn't joking, there's a…" he gestured to her shoulder, and she looked down to see a long legged arachnid sitting there. She clenched her eyes shut and said "Get it off".

"But it isn't going to hurt you"

"Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Okay, okay!" the Corsair stepped forward and gently scooped the spider off her shoulder, letting it walk over his hand. "Is it gone?" she asked, still keeping her eyes tightly closed. "Yes" he lied; she opened her eyes, saw the spider and glared at him. "What's the big deal? If you can brush off darkness, bones, bloodied walls and zombies as annoyances, you can't be scared of a little spider…you know, I thought you'd be a lot more scared of all this. I gotta say, I'm impressed" the Corsair admitted.

Despite herself, Flavia smiled. "When you put it like that I suppose a fear of spiders is a bit…"

"Silly?"

"Yes…I still want you to get rid of it though, it's disgusting"

"Alright, hang on"; he released the spider into the corridor. "Thanks…I better go fetch something to clean this mess up" Flavia sighed, turning to the wall, only to find there was not a drop of red stain in sight. "I guess the TARDIS cleaned herself up…speaking of which, I better sweep up those chicken bones before she starts haunting _me_" the Corsair joked, but it kind of fell flat. He cleared his throat and added, "You know, I really think you ought to come trick or treating. It's never going to be Emily's first Halloween again, you know".

/

Hours later, the four Time Lords and one Time Tot had landed in Donna's back garden. The two first time mothers were very happy to see one another. "So this is little Emily, eh? You are just as cute as Martha said" Donna cooed, pinching Emily's chubby little cheeks. She wriggled in Romana's arms, reaching out a pink hand towards her fellow infants in Shaun's arms with their tufts of ginger hair. "This is Liam, and that's Joshua. I bet you're all going to be best friends!" Donna enthused.

The adults (and the babies, according to the Doctor) complimented one another on their costumes. Donna was wearing a Roman toga, Shaun sported a skeleton costume and their twin boys were dressed up as Mike and Sulley from 'Monsters Inc.' Romana was dressed like a witch and Emily was her black cat with a white tummy and little pink ears, the Doctor was an astronaut, the Corsair was Jack Sparrow and even Flavia was wearing a lovely 1920's red dress with a feathered black boa and mask. "I thought you didn't want to come trick or treating?" Romana asked.

Flavia smiled. "Let's just say I was reminded that this is always going to be Emily's first Halloween...besides, the Corsair promised to give me any sour sweets he got" she added, much to said Time Lord's surprise. "I did?" he asked, and she replied "You owe me one for trying to scare me earlier; speaking of which, was it _you _who dripped coolant and food colouring all over my wall?" she asked the Doctor, who stared at her in bewilderment. "What? Why would I do that?"

"Maybe the TARDIS did it" Donna suggested with a shrug. "That doesn't make any sense. Sentient or not, even the TARDIS couldn't do something like that…could she?" the Doctor wondered. They all looked at the blue box suspiciously. "I guess we'll never know" the Corsair shrugged, "and it all got cleaned up anyway. Come on, Emz, let's go trick or treating!" he cheered, and the babies clapped and laughed.

/

A/N: Yeah this chapter is really bad, sorry. I just couldn't decide what to do with it and by the time I thought of good ideas it was too late to write them out. Maybe next year *sigh*. Happy Halloween.


	5. Chapter 5 - Special Steps

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who and I never will

Chapter Five – Special Steps

It was a bright and sunny day, and the Time Lords (plus one Time Tot) were enjoying a secluded beach holiday on Barcelona – the planet, of course, not the city. A few stray noseless dogs wandered about, much to Emily's delight; the ten month old kept trying to crawl after the dogs and had to be brought back to the play mat she was sitting on. Romana had lathered her in high factor sun-cream, dressed her in flowery shorts and a pink t-shirt, and put a little floppy hat on her head. Then she snapped a load of pictures on a camera she'd found, because Emily looked so adorable.

Flavia gasped in shock as cold water splashed against her legs, and she sat up abruptly. "That's freezing!" she cried, and the Corsair shrugged saying, "It's not _that _cold, Flavia. You should come in, the water's great!" he grinned at her, jumping off a flat rock into deeper water. Flavia pulled a face and replied "I'm happy here, thank you very much". She got up and dragged her deckchair out of the way of any more splashes, before settling back down to continue getting a tan.

The Doctor waded from the sea and stood with the waves curling around his ankles, smiling at Romana. "Why don't you come in?" he asked her; she smiled back but shook her head. "I need to keep an eye on – oh! Emily, come here honey", she scrambled over and picked up the adventurous little baby, who kicked and reached out grabbing hands towards the dogs barking at them from the other end of the beach. "Wagabadaba!" she babbled frustratedly. The Doctor nodded in agreement. "You can't argue with that, Ro" he pointed out.

Romana laughed. "Aww, darling, I know you wanna play with the doggies but you need to stay near mummy, so I can look after you" she explained to a pouting Emily. After all, the dogs were noseless, not toothless. She knew she was being a bit too protective but she couldn't help it, Emily was her baby and she'd do anything to keep her safe. _Daddy, I wanna play with doggies! _Emily insisted, changing tactics and appealing to her father instead. The Doctor laughed and replied, "Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm siding with your mum on this one. Then again…it wouldn't hurt for her to just pet one, would it?"

"I suppose not…but they're not even coming near us" Romana pointed out, and the Doctor grinned. "Oh ye of little faith" he said, walking down the beach towards the dogs, who began to bark excitedly at him. "Here, doggy, good doggy!" he cooed, beckoning to the nearest noseless dog, which looked a little like a large terrier. The dog stared at him blankly before giving a loud woof and bounding away, leaving the Doctor feeling rather stupid. It didn't help that the Corsair was watching the whole thing and laughing uproariously.

Try as he might, the dogs simply refused to follow him down the beach. "They're probably think you're a vampire or something; seriously, when's the last time you went sunbathing?!" the Corsair called from the sea. "Corsair, look out!" Romana warned a little too late, as a large wave crashed down right on top of the Corsair, and he surfaced spluttering. "Ha!" the Doctor laughed, before coming back to Romana and Emily. "I guess they're just not going to come over" he shrugged haplessly.

A thoughtful look appeared on Romana's face. "In that case…I guess we'll have to take Emily to them" she decided, getting to her feet and picking Emily up. The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "Really?" he asked, and she sighed. "If we're both there to look after her, I'm sure she'll be alright; besides, I don't want to disappoint her". They walked towards the dogs, which for the most part just ignored them. When they reached the bit of beach that seemed to separate 'their spot' from the dogs, a couple of the larger ones barked warningly.

Rather than alarm her, this just made Emily even more eager to play with them. She stretched out her hands towards the dogs, babbling and gurgling excitedly. _Pet doggies! Cute doggies! _The Doctor took her from Romana's arms and knelt down, letting her stand up as he supported her with his hands around her waist. One of the smaller dogs, which looked like a corgi and a poodle mix, trotted forward and pressed its noseless muzzle onto the tip of Emily's outstretched hand. A wide smile covered the toddler's face as she gently stroked between the dog's large ears.

Her dad held her steady upon the soft sand whilst her mum took photos of her petting the now quite curious dogs. Emily giggled in delight as they licked her hands and cheeks, trying to walk towards them as they moved away. "She looks so precious" Romana beamed, "smile at mummy, sweetheart!" Emily looked up at her, but the smile on the infants face was replaced by a look of confusion as she looked at the camera. Romana took a picture anyway.

The Corsair had emerged from the ocean to watch, and even Flavia was foregoing her sunbathing. "How come you're holding her back?" the Corsair asked the Doctor, pointing at Emily who was still trying to walk on the sand. "I don't think this beach is the best place for her to start walking" the Doctor explained, but he made the decision there and then to put her on a flatter, firmer surface and see what happened. "At least see if she can stand up on her own, she's about the right age" the Corsair suggested.

"Good point. Emily, darling, I'm gonna let you go but I promise I'll catch you if you fall over, okay?" he told Emily, who just blinked at him with those lovable big blue eyes. Slowly, carefully, the Doctor let go of Emily's waist and the adults watched with baited breath, wondering if she'd fall over. To their relief and joy, she managed to stay upright, holding her little arms out to balance herself. They all applauded…then Emily tried to take a step forward, slipped on the loose sand, and fell onto her knees. She whimpered and Romana scooped her up straight away, cuddling her.

"Oh, it's okay baby, you were doing so well! I am _so _proud of you!" she beamed at Emily, brushing the sand from her knees and kissing them. "I'm proud of you too; Emily, you nearly walked! You just need a better surface to practise on, that's all" the Doctor reassured Emily, but the little girl pouted and insisted, _No walk, too hard. _

"No, walking's not hard, you'll get the hang of it in no time" Romana promised. Emily kept pouting and repeated, _Too hard. _"Okay, I think a certain little Time Tot needs a nap, because she's a bit grumpy" her mum decided, carrying Emily back to their spot on the beach and settling her into her carrier, lying in the shade created by the TARDIS and a couple of palm trees. Emily grumbled and protested, but pretty soon she was fast asleep.

Romana gazed at Emily's peaceful little face with a fond smile, but it was swiftly replaced with a look of worry. "You don't think we pushed her too far, do you? What if she's not ready to walk?" she asked the Doctor apprehensively. "Well, um, as far as I know this is the first time she's tried to walk. I mean, we've seen her cruise with furniture, but that was the first time she stood up on her own. Don't worry, Ro" he assured her, "I'm sure if she practices on a better surface, like a nice soft carpet, she'll get the hang of walking in no time".

/

Later, when Emily had woken up and they had left the beach, they all gathered in the playroom. The Corsair manned the video camera, because if this was the day that Emily walked, her parents didn't want to miss a single second of it. Romana held Emily upright around her waist, and the Doctor knelt down two feet in front of her. "Come on, sweetheart, come to daddy!" he beckoned, beaming at Emily, who stared at him in bewilderment.

"He means walk to him, dearie" Flavia interjected, "like you did on the beach". The Doctor nodded and mimed walking with his fingers; then he got an idea and picked up one of her toys, giving it a shake. "Hey, Emily, come and get your rattle! Yeah? Good girl!" he grinned as she reached out towards it, and took a step forwards to keep her balanced. Emily took another step, and another, swinging her chubby little legs out wide to try and stay balanced.

Her mum held onto her until Emily was just a foot away from her dad, and then her arms couldn't stretch any further. Emily paused when she felt her mum start to let go, and felt nervous; she couldn't walk, she'd just fall over again! "That's it, you can do it. Don't give up!" her daddy encouraged, holding out his hands. She'd just need to take a few little steps. One…two…three!

The Doctor scooped her up and spun her around, making her laugh; Romana rushed forward to embrace them both, Flavia applauded and the Corsair punched the air in triumph. "You walked! You walked all by yourself, you brilliant girl!" the Doctor cheered, kissing Emily on the forehead. "That wasn't too hard, now was it? You see, you can do anything Emily. Anything you set your mind to" Romana insisted. Emily beamed, and then…her tummy rumbled. "Bamagugar!" she exclaimed, or in baby talk, _I want banana's and custard!_ and her parents laughed.

A/N: I just wanted to say that I've uploaded images of Romana, Flavia, the Corsair and Emily to my deviantart page, if you want to see them just type in www dot 10blue10 dot deviantart dot com. :)


	6. Chapter 6 - Birthday Bash

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Skipping ahead somewhat, but if I tried to keep these chapters in line with their 'real world' counterparts all the time, she'd take forever to grow up.

Chapter Six – Birthday Bash

"Where's Emily? There she is! Where's Emily? There she is!" Romana cooed, playing peekaboo with the toddler in her high chair. Emily's bubbly giggle warmed her hearts so much, as the little girl clapped her pudgy hands together and babbled. "Gen-gen!" she crowed, which was her way of saying "Again!" The Corsair, who was leaning against the countertop with a mug of coffee, said "Mind you don't wear your old mum out, Emz. She's been playing that daft game with you all morning".

Romana rolled her eyes playfully at him. "I don't mind, I'd do anything for my precious angel. Especially on her extra special day" she cooed, pinching Emily's cheeks. She couldn't believe it had been a year since Emily first came into their lives – it felt like just yesterday she'd been holding a tiny pink bundle in her arms. "Gen!" Emily demanded, banging her hands on the tray in front of her. Romana chuckled and tickled her under the chin. "Don't you want breakfast?" she asked temptingly.

"Bana! Corna!" Emily giggled happily, switching from wanting peekaboo to wanting cornflakes with banana in an instant. Romana made to get up, but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder and said "I'll get her breakfast; you just keep entertaining our little princess". He got to his feet, putting his own bowl of cereal in the sink before shaking out some cornflakes into Emily's favourite blue and pink striped bowl, and thoroughly dousing them with milk. Whilst the flakes turned to soggy mush, he sliced a banana and arranged the pieces into a smiley face.

When he put it in front of Emily and handed her a little plastic spoon, she actually used the spoon instead of trying to smear the food over her face and her high chair. _She's really growing up _Romana sighed, and the Doctor put an arm around her. _Don't worry, love. She'll be our baby girl for quite a while yet _he assured her. Emily stuck her fingers in her breakfast to pick out a bit of banana, and held it out to Romana. _Here you go mummy! _She said cheerfully. Romana couldn't help but smile. "Oh, you eat it, darling. I'm stuffed" she said, rubbing her stomach.

After breakfast, they went to the console room; the plan was to meet with the Nobles and Smith-Jones, including little Maria who had just been born in May. They emerged from the TARDIS into a party held in Donna's spacious garden. Donna and her family were there, as were Mickey, Martha and Maria – even Jack had made an appearance. "Happy Birthday!" they all cheered when Emily came tottering out of the blue box, a gleeful smile stretched across her face.

"Hi Emily! Come give your auntie Donna a big hug!" the ginger woman said enthusiastically, scooping the Time Tot up and cuddling her. Then she set Emily down on the grass in front of her twin boys, and she greeted Liam and Joshua in her own baby language. _Hi Liam, hi Joshua! _

_Hi Emily! _Liam replied, as Joshua gave her a drooling smile. Emily smiled back. _Thanks! _she replied.

_What's a birthday? _Joshua asked in a puzzled tone. His twin looked equally confused, and so did Emily, but for a different reason. _You've had a birthday before, remember_ she reminded them. It was sad that she hadn't gotten to go to their birthday party, but her mummy and daddy were busy saving a planet whilst her godparents babysat her, and they only made it to the day after. _Yeah, but we didn't know what was going on! _Liam protested with a whine.

Emily began stacking brightly coloured cubes with funny patterns like **A **and **B **on them. She was sure they meant something, she just didn't know what. She _did _know what a birthday was though…well, kind of. Not really. _I think it's the day that you're born _she said. This only bewildered Liam and Joshua even more. _So…when this happened to us before, we were being born? _Liam asked, and then Joshua inquired, _So what were we before our birthday? Were we unborn? Were you unborn? _

_What's unborn? _

_I dunno! _

_I know! I'll ask my daddy. Daddy! _Emily called for her father, who was talking to Donna about times gone by and all that. He heard his daughter's shrill mental call, as well as the squeal she made when she was impatient, and excused himself. "Hey, sweetheart, what is it?" he asked, crouching down beside the toddlers, still holding a cup of Ribena. _What's a birthday? _Emily asked. The Doctor blinked. "Beg pardon?"

_They don't know what a birthday is _Emily explained, pointing at Liam and Joshua…but mostly Joshua. _She says it's when we're born. Was she unborn before? _

_Unborn isn't a real word! _

_Is too!_

_Is not!_

_Is too! _

"Boys, boys!" the Doctor headed the twins away from a bickering session and then a full blown tantrum. He tried to think of a good way to explain what a birthday was to one year olds… "Okay, um, a birthday is…it happens every year on the day you were born, and it's when you each get a year older" he told them. _Oh…what's a year? _Asked Liam. The Doctor stared at him.

"Doctor? Is everything okay?" asked Mickey, kneeling down opposite the Time Lord. "Liam doesn't know what a year is" he replied. He had _no _idea how to explain this, it was like trying to explain what water tasted like – it was just something you knew. Mickey raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. He's a baby" he pointed out, and the Doctor shook his head. "I speak baby, remember? The kiddies want to know what a birthday is; I tried to explain it, but then Liam asked what a year was. How do you explain what a year is?"

"Oh, that's easy. Just tell them what a day is and work up from there" Mickey shrugged. The Doctor wondered why he'd ever considered the other man an 'idiot' – that made perfect sense, why hadn't _he _thought of that? "Good idea. Emily, boys, you know how you wake up, and then later on you go to sleep again?" he asked them, and they all gurgled in the affirmative. "Well, the bit in between is called a day, and if you put seven days in a row it's called a week, and four weeks in a row is a month, and twelve months in a row is a year. Get it?"

_Yeah…I think _Emily admitted. Liam and Joshua were too distracted by toys to answer, but he supposed they'd learn about it by themselves eventually. The Doctor sighed and ruffled her mop of blonde hair. "You'll understand better when you're older, sweetheart" he assured her. Emily thought of something else she'd never thought about before, but now she was curious. _Daddy? _

"Hm?"

_Where did I come from? _

The Doctor had been taking a sip from his drink when she asked that, and he promptly spluttered in shock. "What?!"

_Where did I come from? _she repeated, a little confused frown on her face. "What did she say?" asked Mickey, looking at him in bemusement. "She…she just asked where she comes from" the Doctor hissed; his friend stared at him, lips curling into a smirk. Mickey tried to resist the urge to snicker and failed miserably. "Oh, well…is that Martha calling me? Gotta go, good luck!" he said hurriedly between snorts of amusement, getting up and leaving the Doctor with three curious and impatient infants.

The Doctor glared at the other man's retreating back, and then took a deep breath and smiled down at Emily. He settled her in his lap and told her, "Well, um…where you come from is…a...space stork! Yeah, a space stork gave you to us, that's what happened" he lied. Emily blinked up at him. _Why? _She asked. He fished for an answer and replied "Um, because I saved his planet. Your mum did as well, yes, we saved the space storks' planet and he said he'd give us anything we wanted and we asked for you".

_You wanted me?_

"Of course we did. We love you, sweetheart". At least _that _wasn't a lie. Emily gave him a toothy grin. _Yay! I love you too…I'm hungry _she decided, moments before her little tummy rumbled. The Doctor chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "C'mon then, there's a slice of cake here with your name on it! What about you two trouble-makers, eh? Are you hungry too?" he asked Liam and Joshua, tickling them on the stomachs. The two boys squirmed and babbled in the affirmative; they were hungry, and did they come from space storks as well?

"Uh, yes? Let me just…" the Doctor cast about for Donna, and spotted her talking to Romana. His wife looked so happy that for a moment he just sat there smiling at her, but then Emily tugged on his shirt impatiently so he reached out to Romana through their bond. _Ro, Emily and the twins are getting hungry, I think now would be a good time to bring out the cake _he told her. She looked over at him, smiled and waved, before walking over with Donna. "They want cake now, do they?" Donna asked with a laugh, bending down to scoop up Liam. Romana picked up Joshua, smoothing out his rumpled clothes.

They set Emily, the adorable little guest of honour, at the head of the table they'd set out full of snacks. _What's cake? _Emily asked curiously. "It's delicious, but I think you'd better eat something savoury first, after your Auntie Donna went to so much trouble, eh?" her dad suggested, piling her paper plate with snacks. "Has she really not had cake before? I can't remember" Romana admitted. The Doctor shrugged. "I guess so…mind you, it's a better question than the last one she asked" he grinned in amusement.

"Why, what did she ask?"

"She wanted to know where she came from"

"…what did you tell her?"

"I told her we saved the space storks' planet and were given her as a gift".

"…"

"Well, what was I supposed to say?"

Romana shook her head in amusement. The Corsair had got out his video camera. "I'm telling you guys, her first time eating cake is going to be _hilarious_" he said enthusiastically, filming everyone around the table but mostly Emily. The cake itself was shaped like a pink and blue butterfly – Emily's favourite colours. A single 1 shaped candle was placed in the middle. "_Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Emily, happy birthday to you!" _they all sang as Flavia carried the cake out and placed it down in front of Emily.

"Blow the candle out sweetheart" her dad encouraged her; she stared curiously at the cake and the dancing flame, reaching out to touch it but it was fortunately out of her reach…and then her nose scrunched up. The Doctor quickly whipped out a handkerchief and held it up as Emily sneezed. The adults chuckled in amusement. "How about we blow it out together, eh?" the Doctor said cheerfully. He and Emily both blew at the flame, extinguishing it, and everyone cheered. Even little Maria clapped in her mother's arms, but mostly because everyone else was doing it.

Then came the moment of truth. Romana cut Emily a piece of sponge cake, and put it in front of her daughter with a "Here you are, darling, yummy birthday cake". Emily did what she would with any unfamiliar food – she poked at it, squishing it between her fingers to try and figure out what it was made of. When the slice was well and truly squashed, she cautiously put a piece in her mouth and her eyes widened. This tasted great! She scooped up a bigger chunk of sponge and icing, sticking it in her mouth and getting a lot of it smeared over her face.

"I think it's safe to say she likes it" the Corsair quipped, and they all laughed again. Emily giggled as well, mouth still full of cake. She couldn't wait for the next time her birthday happened, if it meant getting cake like this!

/

Happy 51st anniversary, yay! Yeah, it's not as interesting as the 50th. Oh well!


	7. Chapter 7 - Christmas Cheer

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter Seven – Christmas Cheer

1 Dec

"Oh I wish it could be Christmas every da-ay! When the kids start singing and the band begins to pl-ay!" the Doctor sang cheerfully off key to the music blaring from the speakers as he danced around the console with Emily in his arms, the toddler giggling hysterically as her father twirled her around. The enormous fir tree standing in a corner of the parlour was being absolutely bedecked in tinsel and baubles. Boxes of decorations, dragged out from deep in the TARDIS and dusted off, littered the floor.

Romana laughed as she watched her husband and daughter dancing together. She hung a holly wreath from a nail above the fireplace, and arranged five stockings along the edge of the mantelpiece. A TARDIS blue one with a furry white rim for the Doctor, a silver one with white stars for herself, a little pink one with yellow polka dots for Emily, a bright red one for the Corsair and a gold and crimson striped one for Flavia.

The Corsair and Flavia were busy decorating more of the giant tree. "You know, if we heap any more up here this tree is going to end up awfully top heavy" the Corsair warned as Flavia handed him another string. "I don't think it's in danger of falling over; and besides, there's only a few more of these to hang up" Flavia replied, untangling some beads.

"I can't understand why the Doctor brought out so many decorations. There are only so many places to put them in here" she commented as she handed a string of silver balls to the Corsair. "True, but what makes you think he's stopping with the parlour? There's still the console room, Emily's bedroom, and I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to _literally_ deck the halls with boughs of holly" the other Time Lord reminded her.

"Don't worry, Flavia" Romana assured her, having overheard the last bit of the Corsair's sentence, "I convinced him that the TARDIS might consider having holly plastered all over her walls to be a health hazard and get rid of it anyway". Of course he still had every intention of turning as much of the TARDIS as he possibly could into a 'Christmas wonderland' for Emily, and she'd heard him chatting to their daughter about his plans to go looking for the ice rink he was sure was on board somewhere, but she didn't bother mentioning that to Flavia.

The Doctor came over and placed Emily in Flavia's arms before pulling Romana out into the middle of the room. "Doctor, what're"- he pressed a finger to her lips and then turned the music back on – she hadn't noticed it had gone quiet. A tinkling melody played out as the Doctor pocketed his sonic, beamed at her, and began to waltz her around the room. "_I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree" _sang Mariah Carey…then the Doctor began singing along as well.

"I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know, make my wish come true…all I want for Christmas is you" he sang in her ear, before twirling her around as the beat of the music picked up. Romana laughed joyfully, and Emily wriggled in Flavia's arms, clapping her little hands in glee as she watched her parents dancing. "Cause I just want you here tonight, holding onto me so tight, what more can I do, baby all I want for Christmas is you!" she sang back to him, and he smiled lovingly at her, giving her a dip and a kiss.

When the song ended, they were standing in the doorway. "Well, look at that. We've ended up right below the mistletoe. It sure would be a shame to ignore tradition, wouldn't it Romana?" the Doctor smiled at her. Romana looked up at the mistletoe, and then back at him, a smile growing over her own face. "Yes, I think we should definitely honour tradition" she replied, leaning in to give him a kiss.

Emily pulled a face and covered her eyes. "I couldn't agree more, Emz" the Corsair agreed, having climbed down from the step ladder he'd been standing on, "now then, I don't think there's an inch of this tree that hasn't been plastered with decorations, so do you want to put the star on top?" he asked her, and the toddler beamed happily. "Yeah, Sasa!" she cheered eagerly. The Corsair ruffled her mop of blonde hair, and walked toward the Doctor and Romana. He whistled loudly. "Oi! When you two are done snogging, your little girl wants to put the star on the tree".

The lovebirds broke apart and came back over, holding hands. "Right then! Let's put the star up on that tree, eh?" the Doctor cooed, taking Emily from Flavia and bouncing her in his arms. Emily reached up and playfully tugged at his hair, making him wince. Romana fetched the star from its case – it was a big golden star, covered in glitter, with a cone inside that would slip neatly over the branch sticking up at the top of their Christmas tree.

With great care, the Doctor climbed the ladder with Emily in one arm and the star held by his other hand. The Corsair, Romana and Flavia kept the step-ladder steady as the Doctor balanced himself at the top, and handed the star to Emily. "You keep a tight hold on that, sweetheart" he said encouragingly, hoping she wouldn't absent-mindedly drop it. _I won't let go _she grumbled, as he shifted her in his arms.

He lifted Emily up to the top of the tree and told her, "Okay, put it on the sticky uppy branch at the top there". With surprising care for a one year old, Emily slipped the star onto the branch; it bent a little under the weight, but stayed more or less upright. They all cheered. The Doctor climbed down the ladder, and Romana lifted Emily from his arms as soon as her little girl was in reach. "Oh, well done darling! I think it looks very festive, don't you?" she asked Emily, who beamed happily and nodded.

13 Dec

"It's halfway until Christmas!" the Doctor said excitedly, all but jumping on the bed. Romana didn't even blink as she was jostled about, engrossed in reading her book. "Mm-hmm" she murmured distractedly, turning another page. The Doctor lay down and twisted his head up to see what she was reading. "Ooh, 'A Christmas Carol'! It's a great story, isn't it?" he asked eagerly. Romana smiled and nodded, bookmarking her place. It was clear she wasn't going to read anymore at the moment.

"You know, I was the Ghost of Christmas Past once" the Doctor announced. Romana smiled in amusement and raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" she inquired; the Doctor nodded, and then pulled her up off the bed, leading her into the nursery. Emily was happily dropping multi-coloured balls into a series of twisting tubes, like the sort in hamster cages, and watching them roll, spin, drop and set off little flashing lights. "Hey, sweetheart! D'you wanna hear about how daddy made a grumpy man nice again?" asked the Doctor. "Yeh!" she said, the closest she ever got those days to saying "Yes".

The Doctor beamed and kissed the top of her head. "Look at you! You'll be talking in no time. Okay, it was the Christmas of the year before I met your mother again. My friends Amy and Rory were on their honeymoon, but the spaceship they were on was about to crash!" the Doctor said theatrically, and Emily's little blue eyes went round as saucers. "Luckily, your daddy knew just what to do. He found a machine that could actually control the clouds made of ice all around the planet. The problem was, that the owner of the machine was the only one who could use it".

He took Emily's innocent blank look for a sign to continue and explained, "He didn't like me much, for some reason. He was really grumpy, and he didn't like Christmas". Emily pulled a face as if to say 'Who doesn't like Christmas?' "I know, right? Oh, I also jumped down a chimney, like Santa Claus! We can go meet Santa Claus if you like. Anyway, I went back in time to when the grumpy old man was a little boy, and I took him on adventures, every Christmas for him, because you know, time machine. There was a friend of his with us, called Abigail, who never aged a day". A wistful expression came onto his face.

"She was very pretty, and when Kazran – that was the little boy's name – grew up into a young man, he fell in love with Abigail. But…she was very sick, and she only had a few days to live. Kazran was hurt, in here", he tapped his left heart, "and he got all old and grumpy anyway. So Amy and Rory used holograms to show him all the people on the spaceship, the one that was crashing, and then I…I showed him what he used to be. What he _should _have been. And you know what?" he asked. Emily blinked at him. "He _understood._ He and Abigail helped stop the ship from crashing, and saved the day".

Emily grinned happily, having enjoyed the nice story…then she went back to her tube and ball thingy and ignored her parent's presence completely. "That was a lovely story, Theta" Romana smiled, struggling up out of the bean bag chair she was sitting on. The Doctor helped her to her feet and she gave him a grateful kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad you and Emily liked it…it's a shame really. Abigail's singing calmed down a shark, and we hooked it up to a sleigh and rode through the sky…I wish I could do that with you" he sighed.

Romana smiled and replied, "Maybe one day we will. Now, if you don't mind, I have a novel to read" she finished, giving him a peck on the lips before returning to her book.

24 Dec

The Doctor wanted Liam, Joshua and Maria to stay on the TARDIS for the night of Christmas Eve. "It'll be like a great big sleepover for the kids" he said eagerly, "and then we can go to the parlour and have breakfast and open presents and have a big lunch and"- his ramble was stopped by Romana kissing him gently on the lips. "I just noticed the mistletoe" she explained, looking up at the white berries hanging overhead.

"Oh…when did that get there?"

"I think the TARDIS put it there. Theta, your idea sounds wonderful, but don't you think their families will want to spend time with them on Christmas day as well?"

"Well, their families can come too. Our home is bigger on the inside, Romana, there's room for everyone! The more the merrier!"

"How come you're so eager to have them spend Christmas day on the TARDIS?" Romana asked curiously. The smile vanished from the Doctor's face and he squirmed uncomfortably. "I…um…I just…I think it's safer" he explained sheepishly, straightening his bowtie. Romana's brow furrowed a little in confusion. "I don't understand" she admitted, "safer for whom?"

"Well, for everyone. Haven't you noticed that Christmas usually means loads of running for us? It was like that even before I found you again. The Sycorax, the Racnoss, the spaceship Titanic, the Cybermen, the Master, a crashing spaceship, Androzani getting melted…Christmas is supposed to be about hugging and presents and making snow angels and crackers and eating too much, not invasions and running and death and explosions…I just want Emily's first Christmas to be _happy_, not frightening or dangerous" the Doctor explained, sitting down on the bed with a sigh.

Romana sat down beside him and took his hands in hers. "Oh, Theta; this is obviously important to you, so I'm sure our friends will be happy to invite their families on board the TARDIS. But if there _is _an invasion, you should stop it. I know, you want to spend Christmas with Emily and I; but the universe doesn't always do what anyone wants, you know? I just don't think we're worth not saving the world" she explained. The Doctor pulled his hands from her grasp and cupped her face. "I think you are" he whispered, "but I know you'd want me to save the day, so I will, if I need to. I just hope I don't have to".

A lot of people ended up joining them in the end. Donna, Shaun, their twin boys, her mother and granddad; Mickey, Martha, Maria and Jack; even River and Melody showed up. They put all their presents under the big tree, and the Doctor regaled them all with tales of Christmases gone by; with plenty of good natured teasing from the Corsair about 'what really happened', and lots of laughter from the toddlers when he waved his hands all over the place.

25 Dec

They went to bed, but it didn't feel very long to Romana before she was being woken up by the Doctor bouncing on the bed. "Romana! Romana! Wake up, it's Christmas!" he cried eagerly when she opened her eyes, jumping off the bed and running to the nursery. Romana laughed softly to herself as she got out of bed, and followed her hyper-active husband. He scooped Emily up out of her cot, and she began to wail for being woken up. "Doctor! Now look what you've done" Romana scolded, taking Emily from his arms and trying to soothe her.

"Aww, I'm sorry Emily, I'm just excited. It's Christmas!" the Doctor whispered excitedly. Emily stopped whining and blinked in confusion, before she realised what was going on, and gurgled excitedly. "Cri-ma! Crima!" she laughed as the Doctor tickled her tummy. "Yeah! C'mon, let's go to the tree!" the Doctor decided, scooping Emily up and carrying her out of the room. Romana hurried after them, saying "Hold on, shouldn't we eat breakfast first?"

All seventeen of them ended up eating breakfast in the parlour; and thanks to the upgraded food machines (well, more remodelled entirely), everyone got to have their favourite breakfasts. Then came the best part – opening presents! "I think we should let the little ones open their presents from their parents first" Romana suggested. Everyone was agreeable, so they settled down on the floor or in armchairs, toddlers in laps, ready to open their gifts.

Mickey and Martha gave their infant daughter a stuffed version of Olaf, the Snowman from Disney's _Frozen. _Donna and Shaun had each bought their boys matching jumpers, one that read 'Trouble' and the other 'Makers'. The twins looked absolutely adorable in it. Romana helped Emily unwrap her first Christmas present, from her parents. Emily managed to grasp the wrapping paper in her little hands and tear a piece off, which she then put her in her mouth. "Ah – no, darling, we don't eat the paper" Romana said hurriedly, tugging the bit of paper out of Emily's grip.

The baby pouted and gabbled nonsense – at least it sounded like that to the humans. What she was actually saying was _"But I wanna taste it! It's got pretty colours and sparkly stuff on it!" _

"Trust me, darling, wrapping paper is not tasty at all. Don't you want to tear off the rest and see what your mummy and daddy have got you for Christmas?" Romana encouraged, giving the still half-wrapped present a tempting shake. Emily reached out and pulled at the torn paper, helped along a bit by Romana (surreptitiously, of course) and inside…lay a marvellously detailed, richly coloured plush TARDIS. The little panel with writing on it simply said 'Push Me', but Emily hadn't quite mastered reading yet, so Romana pushed it for her. The toy made a _vworp _sound.

"Where did you get it?" asked Donna, wondering if there was a store somewhere in the universe that sold Doctor Memorabilia. Knowing him, there probably was. "We made it, actually" the Doctor informed her with a smile. "Yes, we bought the materials when we went shopping for gifts; the Doctor made the device that makes it sound like the TARDIS, and I sewed the pieces together, and we filled it with foam stuffing. It's machine washable as well, just in case…just in case she drools all over it, like you" Romana smiled in amusement as Emily chewed experimentally on a corner of her TARDIS plush.

She quickly spat it out and pulled a face. The Doctor was more than happy to show her how to play with it, and whilst he demonstrated, Romana decided to open a present of her own. She picked up a little rectangular present from the top of her pile and read the little dangling starburst tag. 'To the love of my lives, Merry Christmas'; well, at least she could guess who it was from. Excited, she unwrapped the present and opened the black box inside…and gasped. "Oh my God…Doctor, it's beautiful!" she said in awe, holding up a necklace decorated with a silver snowflake, a lovely blue topaz gem set in the centre.

The Doctor smiled lovingly at her. "I'm glad you like it" he said as he put it on her; she turned round in his arms and kissed him thoroughly, whilst the Corsair and Jack wolf-whistled. "I don't like it, I love it" she told him when she'd finished. He grinned happily and picked up a present from his own pile. "Ooh, squishy. Feels like clothing – or a cushion – ooh, or a"-

"Just open it already!" Donna prompted impatiently; he jumped and then tore the wrapping paper off, to reveal a handsome, deep purple jacket. A small card fell out; Romana picked it up and handed it to the Doctor, who read 'To my hero, and my husband, Merry Christmas'. He took off his tweed jacket and pulled the new one on, spinning about in it before pulling Romana into another kiss. "I love it" he murmured to her when he pulled away.

Many more presents were torn open or unwrapped with care; comments of "Ooh, that's lovely!" or "Oh, thank you so much!", or even "Blimey, that must've cost a fortune" were traded back and forth. When presents had been opened, they sat and chatted until lunchtime, where the seventeen of them ate a whole turkey and ham between them.

At long last, sleepy toddlers were tucked into carriers, hugs and farewells were exchanged, guests were dropped off home and a content silence fell over the TARDIS, broken only by the hum of the engines and Emily's sleepy mumbles. The Doctor hugged Romana and Emily to him, resting his forehead to hers. They met in a mindscape of powder snow and fir trees, and kissed beneath mistletoe that appeared out of nowhere. "This was a wonderful Christmas, Theta…and nothing bad happened at all".

/

A/N: This chapter is a lot longer than previous ones, but since it's a special occasion I thought, what the heck. Thank you for reading my stories, guys. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!


	8. Chapter 8 - Speaking Stuff

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I am so sorry it took so long to get to this chapter; I just couldn't find the spark.

Chapter Eight – Speaking Stuff

"Say 'mama'. Can you say 'mama'?" Romana asked Emily, crouching down beside the toddler as she played with her toys. _Of course I can! Mama – there, see? _Emily replied telepathically without looking up from the roentgen bricks she was stacking into a wall. Romana sighed and explained, "Darling, I mean can you say it out loud".

Emily looked up at her then with a puzzled stare. _Why do I have to say it out loud? _

"Well, you can't speak telepathically all your life, Emily".

_Why not? _

"Because not everyone can talk telepathically; come on, I know you can talk. Oh, Theta", Romana smiled happily as the Doctor came into the nursery, "I was just trying to get Emily to talk".

_I can talk! _

"So why won't you talk out loud?" Romana asked her. Emily didn't reply, but that was probably because the Doctor had scooped her up and was swinging her around the room, making aeroplane noises. She squealed and giggled in delight, making Romana smile widely as well. "You like that, don't you?" she cooed, tickling Emily's tummy, "It's lots of fun! Can you say 'fun' out loud? Come on, say it for me" she prompted.

"Does it really matter if she's not talking out loud yet? She'll get there eventually" the Doctor reasoned, bouncing Emily in his arms. "But the books I've read say that human children would be speaking at least a few words a day by now, so shouldn't Emily be even further ahead?" Romana asked worriedly. The Doctor smiled and walked over, shifting Emily into one arm as he put the other around her waist. "You know it's not that clear-cut; besides, you should really be enjoying the silence. If she's anything like me, once she starts talking, she'll never be quiet".

Romana laughed at that; Emily just grumbled. The Doctor dropped a kiss onto her head and then gave Romana a peck on the lips…and then another. "What do you say we let the Corsair and Flavia babysit Emily for the night and have a little adventure of our own?" he suggested as he held her close, "There's the diamond reefs of Kataa Flo Ko; I was going to take Donna there once, never got round to it. You would love it, Romana…or we could go to Paris, this time with no Jagaroth, and dance under the stars…"

"Mmm…that sounds wonderful" Romana admitted with a smile, "but…"

"Does there have to be a 'but'?"

"But what if Emily says her first word whilst we're gone? I don't want to miss that, and I feel like it might happen today" she explained. She'd been trying to encourage Emily to speak actual words with her mouth instead of relying on the telepathic bond she shared with her parents, but for some reason, today just felt like…this was it. Maybe it was all wishful thinking on her part, but the _possibility _was there, right?

The Doctor smiled fondly and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Alright then, you don't let Emily out of your sight…or hearing, I should say" he chuckled, before tickling Emily and asking her "Where d'you wanna go today? Huh? Where'd you wanna go?!" She giggled and clapped her little hands enthusiastically. _I wanna go to the beach! Beach, beach, beach! _

"Beach it is!" her father announced, setting her down and offering his arm to Romana. She took it and they walked out into the corridor, Emily toddling as fast as her little legs would carry her after them. They found Flavia in the library, as per the norm, perusing a thick novel. "Beeka!" Emily exclaimed joyfully, running…well, more like waddling…up to Flavia and grinning up at her. Flavia blinked. "Beach?" she repeated, translating the baby speak but not fully understanding.

"Emily wants to go to the beach, if you want to come along. Can you say 'beach', darling? It's easy, see; be-ch" she tried to sound it out, which wasn't easy with a one syllable word. Emily blinked slowly and opened her mouth. "Bee…" she began, Romana leaning forward a bit in anticipation, "…ka" she finished. Romana deflated with an audible sigh as the Doctor chuckled. "Better luck next time love".

Flavia raised an eyebrow as she bookmarked her place and stood up from the armchair she'd been sitting in. She made to put the novel down, but then reconsidered. "What're you reading?" the Doctor asked eagerly, leaning over to have a look. "Oh! I love that series" he beamed, recognising the cover. Flavia nodded and admitted "Yes, I can see why this Rowling author is so popular amongst humans; quite the imagination. But Romana, is something wrong? You seem rather disappointed".

"Oh, I just wish Emily would say her first word…well, her first proper word. Which I hope will be something like 'dada', or better yet, 'mama'" Romana explained as they walked from the library in search of the Corsair. "Oh, that would be adorable…but I'm sure you just need to be patient. Emily will start talking when she's ready to start talking…and no offence, but if she's anything like her father, we won't get another minute's peace" Flavia pointed out. "That's what I said" the Doctor nodded, before Flavia's words registered and he pouted, "Hey!"

Following the corridors and lights of the TARDIS led them to the Corsair's bedroom door, with his name carved into the door in Gallifreyan. The Doctor rapped on the door, and a muffled voice called from within "Just a minute!" The Corsair stuck his head around the door, his chin covered in shaving foam and his hair wet. "What's up? Hey, Emz, bit of privacy please!" he said hurriedly as the little girl made as if to enter his room, "I'm not dressed".

She giggled and put her hands over her eyes. "Emily wants to go to the beach; are you coming?" Romana inquired; the Corsair gave a thumbs-up and shut the door to continue getting dressed. They met up in the console room, carrying rucksacks filled with towels and toys. "Beek! Beek! Beek!" Emily cheered happily, clapping her pudgy little hands together. "Beak? I thought we were going to the beach, not birdwatching" the Corsair said half-jokingly.

Five minutes later, and they had set down on a beautiful deserted beach on the pleasure planet of Donalor 7. A seemingly endless expanse of soft white sand stretched as far as the eye could see, flanked on either side by an ocean of sapphire blue, and dunes leading up to a slope and grassy hills. "Oh, it's beautiful" Romana sighed happily, and the Doctor beamed to see her so happy. "And no nose-less dogs in sight" he joked, nudging her with his elbow.

"Oh, that's a good idea! Emily, sweetheart, can you say 'doggy'? I know you can" she half encouraged, half pleaded. Emily looked up at her with those sweet blue eyes and opened her mouth…only to close it again and shake her head. She set about digging in the sand with a little blue shovel Flavia handed her, as the Doctor wound an arm around his wife's shoulders. "I just don't understand why she doesn't want to talk".

"Maybe she's just not in a talking mood today. C'mon, Romana. Just enjoy yourself, don't worry about getting Emily to talk. She'll say something when she's ready" the Doctor said reasonably. Romana sighed and smiled at him, giving him a peck on the lips. "Yeah, you're right, I can't force it" she nodded, before smiling down at Emily. "Shall we build a sandcastle?" she suggested, rummaging in a bag for a bucket. Emily giggled happily and flung sand everywhere.

They ended up building a sand TARDIS instead, and between them made one as big as the real time machine. "Next time remind me to take us to a planet with blue sand, and white shells" the Doctor remarked to Romana as she helped Emily stick seashells in squares to be the 'windows' of their sand TARDIS. "Good idea. Ooh, Emily, would you like to go paddling? Can you say 'paddle'?" she asked the little girl, who giggled and clapped, nodding vigorously. She didn't say 'paddle' though.

The Doctor scooped her up and carried her to the water's edge, holding her hands as she waded in the shallow water, giggling as the waves surged up around her waist. "Hey. It's just you and me now, sweetheart, so tell me…why don't you want to talk?" he asked Emily. She scrunched her face up, not in annoyance, more like she was thinking really hard. It was adorable…but then again he was biased, he thought everything she did was adorable.

_Cos talking in our heads is special _she answered at last. _I don't wanna stop _she added; the Doctor murmured "Ah…" He was starting to see what was going on. "You just want to talk to me and mummy, eh? In secret?" he guessed. Emily nodded emphatically. "Emily, sweetheart, we can always talk in secret…oh, do you think that talking out loud will make you stop being able to talk to us in our minds?"

_Yes_

"Oh baby, that won't happen. Not until you're older, and even then, you can relearn how to do it. Trust me, sweetheart, you can talk out loud as much as you want. We'll still have our special secret mind talks".

_Really? _

"Cross my hearts" the Doctor nodded, doing just that. He looked up and said, "Uh oh, looks like the scurvy Corsair is trying to take your sand TARDIS! Come on, we've gotta stop him!" Emily splashed out of the water and ran towards the Corsair, squealing in excitement. It all turned into a big old rough and tumble in the sand, and the sand TARDIS got destroyed unfortunately.

When Emily had finally been tired out, which was no mean feat, they gathered up the toys and towels and went back inside the TARDIS. "Did you have fun today, darling?" Romana asked Emily. The little girl looked at her dad, who nodded encouragingly, and then looked at her mum. "Yes mummy" she said clearly, and Romana's eyes widened. "You talked…oh my gosh, you talked!" she gasped in delight, pulling Emily to her and peppering the little girl's face with kisses. Emily wriggled in her grasp; her daddy never said anything about this happening if she talked!


	9. Chapter 9 - Prehistoric Playmate

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter Nine – Prehistoric Playmate

Emily was super excited. She was going on her first mystery trip! The three year old danced about the console room in her Crocs, leggings and tie-dyed t-shirt, waving her arms and chanting "Mys-te-ry! Mys-te-ry!"; much to the amusement of the adults. The Corsair quipped, "Hey, Doctor, looks like she's inherited your dancing style".

"What's wrong with that?" replied the Doctor, grinning down at his daughter. "Atta girl, Emily, do the drunk giraffe! Remember, cool is not cool".

"Cool not cool!" Emily cheered, throwing her arms in the air and giggling. She toddled up to her dad with her arms outstretched. "Up!" she demanded. He picked up and swung about, making aeroplane noises as she squealed in delight. "Okay, okay" Romana smiled, "that's enough. You're going to tire her out before we even get to our destination" she pointed out. Emily shook her little head. "Nuh uh! Not tired!"

They hadn't told Emily where they were going, but her parents weren't about to risk a truly random trip going awry…of course, the trips they chose themselves often went awry, but with Emily around they were all a lot more careful with where they chose to visit. Lately they'd been introducing Emily to various benevolent races, such as the Ood, the Adipose and others. Now, they wanted to introduce her to some more friendly Silurians…which meant the Corsair had to leave his beloved blaster in the TARDIS, much to his chagrin.

The little girl insisted on walking out of the TARDIS, but the Doctor kept a hold on her hand as they emerged from the time machine and into a large underground cavern. Emily looked around with wide eyes at the spiky looking plants, and the lava and the walkways... "Wow!"

Three masked Silurians appeared, aiming weapons at the arrivals; Romana quickly pulled Emily behind her, but the curious youngster peered out from behind her legs and stared at the green scaly people her daddy was talking to. "Oh, hello, sorry to barge in on you like this…I'm the Doctor, I've been here before about, ooh, a thousand years ago? We're here to visit Eldane".

Luckily, the Silurians believed him and lowered their weapons, before the leader took off her mask. "Auntie Vastra?" Emily blurted out in surprise; the Silurian warrior stared at her. "Oh, yes; this is my wife, Romana, our daughter Emily, and Emily's godparents, Flavia and the Corsair" the Doctor introduced the others, before explaining, "Emily's only met one other Silurian before, and you resemble her, so…y'know".

"I see" the Silurian replied stiffly, before beckoning to them to follow her and her fellow guards. They were taken to the court room with its pillars, terraced seats and table, and told to wait whilst Eldane was summoned. Emily's interest in the room quickly waned; she wandered about for a bit before unceremoniously flopping face down onto the stone floor. "Emily, don't lie on the floor" Romana chided gently, picking her up again.

Emily pulled a face. "I'm bored!" she grumbled, folding her arms and pouting. "Well, don't blame your poor old mum" the Corsair advised, "blame your dad for deciding to turn this into an educational trip".

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "How about I tell you a story?" he suggested to Emily, who happily wriggled out of her mother's arms and hurried over to scramble into his lap. "Story! Story!" she cheered, bouncing up and down.

"Okay, okay, but you've gotta sit still first" the Doctor told her, and she stopped bouncing. "Good girl. Now let's see; long, long ago in Wales – the country, not the marine mammal – some humans found blue grass in a tiny village. So they decided to drill a hole where the blue grass was".

"For treasure?"

"Yep, they were digging for treasure; but what they didn't know was, there were Silurians sleeping where the drill was drilling, and the noise of the drill woke some of the Silurians up".

"Were they cross?" Emily asked, thinking of how she was cross when she got woken up from her naps. The Doctor nodded. "Oh, they were very cross" he agreed, "but luckily, your daddy and his friends turned up to sort everything out".

"And mummy!"

"Ah, well, your mother and godparents weren't there back then. That's a story for another time…anyway, the Silurians sucked my friend Amy down into the ground, so I had to go and rescue her. We had…a bit of trouble in the middle, but I managed to get the leader of the Silurians, and the leader of the drilling people, to talk and work out their differences. That's called diplomacy; dip-lo-ma-see, okay?"

"Dipomacy!"

"Close enough. So, the Silurian leader decided that he and the other Silurians should go back to sleep for another thousand years, to give the humans time to warn everyone that they would have to share the planet in the future. Amy and I escaped and then the drill got blown up so it wouldn't ever bother the sleeping Silurians again. The end…so, did you like the story?"

"Yeah!" Emily nodded enthusiastically; then she heard footsteps, and looked round to see a new Silurian entering. He was wearing black, red and yellow robes, and looked pretty important. "Hello, Eldane" the Doctor grinned, nudging Emily off his lap and walking over to shake the colony leaders' hand.

"Greetings to you as well, Doctor. It is good to see you again" Eldane replied, before turning his gaze on the other Time Lords. Romana stepped forward and offered her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Eldane. My name is Romana, I'm the Doctor's wife" she introduced herself. Eldane shook her hand and assured her, "Please, call me Eldane. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance as well".

"Hi, Mr Eldane! I'm Emily" a little voice piped up, as Emily smiled widely and held her own small hand out to Eldane. Slightly taken aback, he quickly recomposed himself and gently shook her hand in his much larger one. "Hello, child; it is very nice to meet you".

"You too" she replied politely, before skipping off to see if she could get to the terraces on either side of the room. "I assume she's your offspring?" Eldane surmised as the Doctor watched Emily exploring. "Huh? Oh, yes, Emily is our daughter" he confirmed. Eldane turned to the Corsair and Flavia, inquiring "And you two are relatives?"

"Godparents" the Corsair replied, "I'm the Corsair, by the way".

"Yes, and I'm Flavia" the second Time Lady introduced herself. Eldane shook their hands, and then asked the Doctor why he had chosen to visit the colony. "Oh, right, I never said. Well, I realised that I hadn't come back and checked in to see how the whole 'Operation Recolonize' was going" the Doctor explained, before adding, "I also thought Emily should meet with some…non hostile Silurians, so she can learn a bit more about your culture".

Eldane looked amused. "She doesn't seem too concerned with learning" he remarked, gesturing to where Emily was attempting to climb to the top of the terrace over the seats. "Oh no, Emily, don't climb on there!" Romana exclaimed worriedly; the Corsair reassured her, "Relax, I'll keep an eye on her". He went to do just that – but by 'keep an eye on her', he apparently meant lift her up onto each seat as he walked up the steps on the side.

"No, no, it's quite alright" Eldane said good-naturedly when Romana hastened to apologise, "Dust and dirt can be cleaned off; unless you feel she might hurt herself, then it's fine for her to play there" he told Romana, who was very impressed by his patience. Just then, another Silurian appeared, along with two humans – all three of them familiar faces to the Doctor. "Malohkeh, Tony, Nasreen; how've you all been?" he asked, happily shaking the men's hands and then giving Nasreen a Gallic air kiss.

"Doctor?" she asked in surprise, "When they told us you were back I didn't quite believe it, but here you are".

"Here I am" he agreed; and then he noticed a little scaly face peeking out from behind Nasreen. "And who's this?" he inquired. She smiled and moved aside a little, to reveal a Silurian child not much older than Emily, dressed in a simple brown shift dress that contrasted nicely with her green skin. "It's alright, Cayra, don't be scared. This is the Doctor, the man Tony and I told you about, remember?"

The Doctor knelt down and smiled encouragingly at Cayra, who blinked at him. "Hello, Cayra" he greeted. She waved at him shyly, but didn't speak. "She's not mute or anything" explained Tony, "She's just very shy, especially around strange grown-ups". Cayra proved his point by ducking behind Nasreen again; but then something, or rather someone, caught her eye. The Corsair and Emily had re-joined them, and Emily was excited to see a little girl her age to play with.

"Hello, I'm Emily. What's your name?"

"…Cayra" the young Silurian replied quietly. Fortunately, Emily had very good hearing; she didn't, however, have very good volume control. "Hi, Cayra!" she beamed, "Wanna play?"

"Sweetheart, Cayra is very shy. You need to be gentle, and a bit quieter, okay?" the Doctor explained, when poor Cayra looked startled. "Oh. Sorry, Cayra. Do you wanna play with me?" Emily asked in a gentler voice. Cayra hesitated, and then nodded. The two girls wandered off under the watchful eye of the adults in between introducing everyone to the newcomers.

"So, I'm guessing you and Tony adopted Cayra?" Romana asked Nasreen, who nodded. "When we blew the drill up, there was a cave in. Poor Cayra was orphaned" she explained, looking guilty for a moment. "We figured that adopting her was the least we could do" Tony added, putting an arm around Nasreen.

Meanwhile, Cayra was showing Emily some Silurian writing carved into the table; although from Emily's point of view, it was written in English, not that the translation made much of a difference. She hadn't started learning other languages yet; she was still trying to master Gallifreyan. "What's it say?" the Time Tot asked inquisitively. Cayra shrugged. She hadn't learned to read her own language yet.

"Let's ask Mr Eldane" Emily decided, getting down off the chair she was standing on. Cayra followed her, but hung back as Emily walked fearlessly up to Eldane and tugged on his robes. "Mr Eldane? What do those words mean?" she asked, pointing at the table. Eldane wasn't quite sure what she meant at first, but then he realised. "Ah, on the table, you mean? The message says 'Peace and patience means prosperity for all'" he explained.

Emily and Cayra both looked more puzzled. "What does that mean?" the Time Tot wondered. Her dad was more than happy to help explain it all. "Well, what it means is that if nobody fights or argues, then the humans and Silurians can share good things for a long time. Like how Tony and Nasreen look after Cayra, even though they're not the same species".

The children still weren't sure if they understood; but Emily now knew what the words said, so she was satisfied. "Thanks Mr Eldane, thanks daddy. Ooh, can we go to your house, Cayra?" she asked eagerly. Cayra bit her lip and fidgeted. "You have to ask them" she replied, pointing at her adoptive parents. Emily looked up at Nasreen and Tony with a hopeful expression, and her cuteness proved too much to resist.

"I don't see why not" agreed Nasreen. Eldane and Malokheh bid them farewell, as both Silurian men had other affairs to attend to. Tony and Nasreen, along with Cayra, led the Time Quintet back to their…well, cave. "What's it like here?" Emily asked Cayra as they walked along a broad walkway over a river of lava.

"What d'you mean?"

"Y'know, what do you do for fun?"

"Oh, um…I just play with my toys".

"What about your friends?"

"…Um, I don't have any friends".

"Sure you do. I'm your friend".

"You are?"

"Yep. Can we play with your toys together?"

"…Okay" Cayra smiled.

/

Several hours later, Emily was dozing in Romana's arms and Cayra was sitting drowsily in Nasreen's. "Well, the children certainly had fun today" she remarked, and Romana smiled fondly. "Indeed. If only adults could get along as well as kids, there'd be a lot fewer problems in the universe".

The Doctor put an arm around her shoulder and stroked Emily's blond hair. "Our little ambassador" he joked and Romana replied, "Who knows? Maybe one day, she'll be doing this for real".

/

A/N: This is a long chapter, but you guys deserve it after I made you wait so long. I'm going to try and write more for this side story, since we've got the major firsts out of the way. Wish me luck, and if you have any suggestions for things you might like to see in a future chapter, let me know and I'll try to work them in! Vworp on!


	10. Chapter 10 - Blast from the Past Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: As usual, apologies for the long wait. I hope you enjoy this chapter, inspired by jg16395 – better yet, it's a two-parter! It was also inspired by LizzeXX's one-shot 'Wibbley Wobbley Timey Wimey', in which three of her Time Lady OC's and their Doctors, from alternate universes, have an unexpected encounter.

Chapter Ten – Blast from the Past: Part One

The Doctor held Emily in one arm and pointed at the monitor screen with the other. Displayed on the screen was a photo of the original him, standing rather stiffly with one arm around his granddaughter. "That's my first incarnation, with my granddaughter Susan, from my first marriage" he explained to his daughter, who had asked him about his past incarnations after he'd explained regeneration to her. He didn't want her to be frightened if any of them were hurt (knock on wood) and began to regenerate, after all.

After he'd shown her pictures of all his incarnations, and a few of her mother's past incarnations (at least, the ones who had ever stepped aboard his TARDIS), Emily innocently questioned, "Daddy, can we meet the old you's?"

"Ah, I would if I could…well, actually no, I wouldn't. Meet myself, I mean; been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Thing is, we're not _really_ supposed to cross our own timelines; if we do, it's often by accident - or because of someone else's meddling" her father rambled. Emily's curiosity was piqued, and she quickly inquired, "How come?"

For a moment, the Doctor wasn't sure what she meant; when he worked it out, he tried to explain everything, but ended up rambling some more. By the end of it, poor Emily was more confused than before she asked. Her dad shifted her into one arm, checked his watch and remarked, "That reminds me, it's your bedtime, isn't it?"

"Aww, but I'm not tired. I'm hungry. Can I have a cookie, please?" she asked, gazing at him with a hopeful smile. The Doctor could stand up to whole armies of Daleks, but he couldn't stand up to his daughter's puppy dog eyes. He sighed. "Alright, but just _one,_ mind you"…

/

The next day – well, not day, but when Emily next woke up – the four Time Lords and one Time Tot gathered in the console room. "Whose turn is it to pick where we're going this time?" the Doctor wondered; they were supposed to all take turns, but with the way they often got distracted, it was hard to keep track of everything.

"I wanna go to a beach!" Emily declared cheerfully. She _loved _beaches, with the sand to play in and the water to splash in, and the people they could meet, and the rock pools to find little creatures in…beaches were fun! Flavia smiled in fond amusement, and remarked, "If I remember correctly, it's your mother's turn to choose the destination".

Emily immediately spun around and hurried over to her mum, tugging on the hem of her light pink shirt. "Can we go to a beach mummy? Please, please, please, please, please!" she begged, jumping up and down. Romana chuckled and ran a hand over her daughter's hair. "Of course we can, darling" she agreed, "Why don't we go to Halergan 3? There are plenty of nice beaches there" she suggested.

The TARDIS landed in the shade of a cluster of palm trees, with a beach of beautiful pearl white sand and an azure blue ocean stretched out before them. There was barely a cloud in the sky, and a warm breeze blowing... "Where are all the people?" Emily wondered. Wouldn't a beach this big and pretty be full of people on holiday?

"I took us to a time zone with no tourists, Emily. They're all on Halergan 1 and Halergan 2" her father explained. Emily's eyes widened as she worked out what that meant. "You mean…the whole beach is just for us? Woohoo!" she cheered, pulling off her shoes and socks and running towards the water. Well, she got as far as the edge of the palm tree's shadows; only to yelp and stumble back as her bare feet touched the sun heated sand.

With a chuckle, the Corsair shrugged off his jacket and ditched his own shoes and socks; the others wrinkled their nose at the not so fresh odour emanating from the footwear. "I've got it" he assured them, walking over to Emily, who was attempting once more to walk on the hot sand. She squealed in surprise when the Corsair scooped her up and carried her on his shoulders down to the water. "Corsair, how come your feet don't hurt?"

"The soles of my feet have anti-heat shields installed".

"No you don't, that's silly".

"And how would you know? You've never looked at my feet. I could show you if you like".

"No thanks". Emily pulled a face, and the Corsair grinned. He set her down again on the much cooler wet sand at the water's edge. "Thanks, Corsair!" she said gratefully, jumping over a wave that swept up the shore and giggling as it rolled backwards around her ankles. One by one the rest of her family joined her, paddling and splashing about without a care in the universe.

/

Romanadvotrelundar, or as the Doctor insisted on calling her Romana, stood on the white sand of Halergan 3 and surveyed the scenery with an air of detachment. "Doctor, I don't understand why we're here. We're supposed to be searching for the fifth piece of the Key to Time" she insisted, frowning at the Time Lord who was currently stretched out on the beach, his hat over his eyes. His coat, waistcoat and ridiculously long scarf were folded neatly under his head as a pillow.

"Exactly" the Doctor replied from beneath his hat, "We've already found four pieces, what's the harm in taking a break before we go to find the last two?"

"The White Guardian warned us that the Black Guardian was searching for the pieces as well!" Romana huffed, "We don't have time to lie around and sunbathe!"

The Doctor lifted his hat and squinted up at her, grinning inanely. "We have a time machine" he reminded her, and she glared at him in frustration before striding off along the beach. _Honestly, _she thought to herself, _I know finding the Key to Time is a huge honour, but did the White Guardian have to choose the Doctor of all people to find it? Oh, I suppose he's the only Time Lord mad enough to even try. Mad, irresponsible, reckless…_

This stream of consciousness continued until it was broken by a now familiar sound; the vworp vworp of a TARDIS. Romana pulled up short, her eyes widening in surprise. What was another TARDIS doing here? She knew she should just go to meet the newcomers; that would be the mature thing to do. Then again…if these other Time Lords wanted her to return to Gallifrey – well, she'd be happy to go, but the Doctor still needed her to help find the Key to Time. He'd be useless on his own, really.

Romana turned on her heel and hurried back to the Doctor, walking past his own TARDIS in which K9 sat recharging. She cleared her throat, and he peered up at her. "Oh, hello Romana, did you have a nice walk?"

She got right to the point. "Doctor, I heard a TARDIS just now" Romana explained, and the effect was electric. The Doctor sat bolt upright, his eyes widening until they were like saucers. "What? Another TARDIS? Where?" he asked as he scrambled to his feet.

"Up ahead, along that way, I believe. What should we do?"

For an answer, the Doctor took out his sonic and held it out in the direction she indicated. After a moment or so it beeped softly, and he looked at the readings. "Yes, there is another TARDIS parked along there, just in that group of trees. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that group over there might have travelled here in it" he declared, gesturing to five figures, four tall and one small, who were either ankle or waist deep in the water.

"Shall we go and meet the neighbours?" the Doctor suggested brightly; without waiting for an answer, he strode off across the sand. When he got near enough, he greeted the paddlers with a cheery "Hello there!"

One of them, a rather skinny bloke with a mop of dark brown hair, spun around and stared at him wide eyed. Before the Doctor could ask what the matter was, the small blond girl piped up, "Oh, wow! I know you, you're my"-

"Friend!" the skinny bloke exclaimed suddenly, wading over to the girl and hurriedly rambling, "You're her new friend, Emily loves making new friends, don't you sweetheart? I'm err, Joe Brown; this is my wife, Rosanna, and our friends, Cory and Olivia" he explained, gesturing first to himself, and then to a young woman with long brown hair, a tall, broad shouldered man and a slightly older woman with black hair.

The Doctor blinked at the man's odd behaviour, but quickly dismissed it. After all, he was pretty odd himself, so who was he to judge? "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm the Doctor, and this is my lovely assistant, Romana" he introduced himself and his Time Lady companion, who had just joined them. The little girl, Emily, looked between the adults with a confused expression before saying, "But daddy, he's y"-

"Hey, why don't we build a sandcastle Emily? You love doing that" 'Joe' suggested quickly, picking the little girl up, "Come on, I'll carry you over the hot sand whilst your mum and our friends talk to our, err, new friends".

/

Eleven strode quickly across the sand; about halfway to the TARDIS he dared a glance back to see if his past incarnation, or the past incarnation of his wife, were watching him. Luckily they weren't, but he still had to explain to Emily why he was acting so strange. "Daddy, why can't I say that he's you from the past?"

"Because your mother from the past is here as well" he replied, "Last night, when I explained why we're not meant to cross timelines – it can end up creating a paradox. If past Doctor and past Romana find out their future selves are married and have a child, they might subconsciously think they _have _to get married to preserve the timelines" the Doctor explained, setting Emily down beside the bag of beach toys and towels they'd brought with them. "I love your mother, she loves me, and I want our feelings for each other to be genuine".

"Oh…but why don't you just pretend not to be married?"

"Bit late for that, I think. Okay, pick out your toys and wait there whilst I take care of something". The Doctor darted into the TARDIS and up to the console; he turned on the emergency invisibility setting, so if either past him or past Romana looked over here they wouldn't see his TARDIS, which would be a pretty big giveaway of this secret he was trying to keep.

_Theta, getting the same year as your past self I can understand, but how did you manage to get the same date?_

_I don't know. I was thinking about you when I put the co-ordinates in, I suppose it was subconscious. _

_You were thinking of me?_

_I'm always thinking of you. Hang on, I'm coming back. Don't let them know who we are! _

Eleven returned with Emily, as well as several buckets and spades, to the little group beside the ocean. "Oh, there you are. Cory was just showing me his tattoo – it's funny, it looks just like the tattoo a friend of mine has" Four remarked. The Corsair stifled a snigger and commented, "Yeah, must be one of those bizarre coincidences".

"Yes, this is all very interesting, but we actually came down here because I heard a…a spaceship landing nearby" the first Romana explained, and Eleven adopted his best 'I have no idea what you're talking about' look.

"Spaceship? Oh, yes, spaceship! Yes, we do have a spaceship. It's err, it's invisible. Invisible spaceships are cool" he grinned inanely. The first Romana raised an eyebrow and revealed, "Well, this was a particular kind of spaceship. In fact you might even call it a time machine".

"Time machine? Wow, that's…that's really…wow. We haven't seen any time machines around here, have we dear?" Eleven asked his Romana. Her lips quirked upwards in amusement and she answered, "Not that I know of".

"Fascinating; is there any chance we could take a look at this invisible spaceship of yours, so to speak?" Four inquired. Eleven's eyes darted from the palm trees where the TARDIS was parked, to Romana, and back to his past self's confused visage. The Corsair, who had no idea why the Doctor was insisting on keeping their identities a secret but was highly amused by it all, grinned mischievously. "Why yes" he replied, "You certainly can".

"Err, no, no, sorry, bad idea. Our ship is um, it's…"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Doctor. This is getting us nowhere" the first Romana sighed in exasperation. She turned to Eleven and his Romana, and told them outright, "The Doctor and I are travelling in a TARDIS, and I heard another TARDIS land here recently. Are you Time Lords or not?"

"I'm not" Emily declared matter of factly. The adults all looked down at her, and she explained, "I'm a Time _Tot. _Mummy says so, and mummy's always right".

"Well, okay, but are the rest of you Time Lords?" the first Romana questioned them. Four frowned in confusion and protested, "They don't seem like they're Time Lords. I can't sense them, can you?"

"No, and that's exactly what's confusing me about all this" the first Romana admitted. All of them looked at Eleven for an answer; he shifted nervously a bit, struggling to think of what to say…and then, with a sigh, he gave in. "Yes…we're Time Lords. You can't sense us because of the converging timelines…I made a mistake with the co-ordinates of our TARDIS" he explained.

The first Romana's brow furrowed slightly. "Well, then why didn't you simply tell us who you were?" she questioned. Before her parents could try to explain, Emily bluntly disclosed, "Daddy didn't want you two to get married just because _they _were married". She pointed at her parents, who both sheepishly met the surprised gazes of their past selves.

Four was the first to break the awkward silence after Emily's direct declaration. "You mean…you're me?"

"Yeah, the eleventh version; err, just so you know, I don't usually dress like this" Eleven said hastily, glancing down at his bare chest and striped swimming trunks. The first Romana looked between him and the woman who was apparently her future self. "And you, you're my future incarnation".

"Yes, the tenth".

"And you're…married, to him?"

"Yes?"

"We marry the Doctor? But he's...I mean, no offence, but he's…"

"Frustrating?" the Corsair supplied, "Annoying, irritating"-

"Oi!"

"Glass houses, Corsair" Flavia remarked pointedly. Four's eyebrows disappeared beneath his wildly curly hairline. "So you really are the Corsair? Why, it's splendid to see you again. I haven't come across you since that fracas on Centauri 9".

"I remember; but don't mention it next time you see me, I won't have done it by then. Oh, and her real name is Flavia, if you were wondering" the Corsair revealed helpfully, gesturing to Flavia, "In fact, the only name our Doctor didn't lie about was Emily's".

"Yep! My name is Emily Freya Smith" the little girl announced proudly. "I even have a Time Lady name! It's Emeyavor-vot-voter…" Emily scrunched her nose up as she struggled to pronounce her longer name. Her mother good-naturedly elaborated, "Emeyadvotrelundar, or Emeya for short".

"Yeah, that's it!"

The tenth Romana turned to her husband and told him, "I still don't understand why you thought them knowing who we were would be a bad thing".

"Well…the only alternative was to pretend we weren't married, and I didn't want to do that. I didn't want us to end up influencing our past selves; I want our feelings to be genuine".

"They are! I promise. Besides, they might not even remember this meeting afterwards. Does it really matter if we were influenced in the past, by the future? Isn't the important thing that we're happy together now?"

"…I suppose so…"

"I love you" the tenth Romana said gently, placing a hand on her husband's cheek, "And if one of the many, many reasons is because I found out that one day I would be incredibly happy with you, I don't mind that at all". With that she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips; she meant for it to be a brief, chaste kiss, but he quickly pulled her closer to him and deepened it.

Emily grimaced at her parent's display of affection and looked away. "Bleugh…uh, daddy?" she said fearfully, staring between Four and the first Romana at the dark skinned, loin-cloth wearing people pointing spears at them all. "Oh, hello" Four greeted the not too pleased looking natives with his trademark friendly grin. "Would you like a jelly baby?" he asked automatically, only to remember that the white bag of sweets was in his coat pocket.

The Corsair also reached for something that wasn't there; his blaster. Emily moved closer to her parents as the spear carriers encircled them. One of them, presumably the leader, said, "You are prisoners. We are Kanarme. You belong to us now. Move!" he ordered. With spears levelled at them, the seven time travellers were forced to walk along the beach.


	11. Chapter 11 - Blast from the Past Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: PLEASE READ. I've changed the storyline of these chapters, and I edited the last chapter to fit better. You can go back and read it if you want, but TLDR, the seven time travellers have been captured by spear wielding Halergan natives. I'm sorry for the long wait, the words just wouldn't flow.

Blast from the Past – Part Two

"What are you going to do to us?" the first Romana demanded, half indignantly and half fearfully (but trying not to show it). The leader of the natives replied, "You are prisoners. The Chief will decide what to do with you. Keep walking!"

Flavia winced when she felt a sharp point poke her in the back, and lengthened her strides a little. There were definitely downsides to being the shortest of the group; well, except for Emily of course, but the little girl was being carried by her mother. The tenth Romana inquired, "Why are you capturing us, exactly?"

"This is our beach. Anything on the beach belongs to the Kanarme".

"Kanarme? Is that the name for the indigenous species?" Flavia wondered. She hadn't even known there were natives, let alone aggressive ones, and for a moment she silently bemoaned their inability to land anywhere without trouble arising. Eleven shook his head and explained, "No, it's probably just the name of their tribe. I wondered if there were natives living on this planet; I mean, I'd prefer it if we weren't being captured, but still, this is a bit exciting isn't it?" he asked with a small grin.

Four nodded emphatically. "Oh yes, it's a very unique way of experiencing the local culture" Four agreed, nodding emphatically. The two versions of Romana met each other's gaze. "I can see some things haven't changed" the first remarked. The tenth chuckled softly and replied, "You have no idea". Her husband stopped running through various plans to escape (all of them half-baked) and pouted at her. _I love that about you _she assured him, and his mildly affronted pout quickly transformed into a smile.

"What _might _they do?" Emily asked curiously. It was the first time she'd ever been a prisoner, and she couldn't help but wonder what being a prisoner actually entailed. From what her daddy had told her, it was sometimes scary, and sometimes very boring. Neither option sounded like much fun. The Corsair casually replied, "Oh, they might do all sorts of things. I think the most common thing is to cook us in a giant pot and eat us".

Emily's eyes widened fearfully. "But I don't wanna be eaten!" she whimpered in protest. Without looking over or breaking her stride, the tenth Romana said calmly, "Corsair, shut up, you're scaring my daughter".

"Oops; sorry, kiddo" the Corsair apologised quickly. He honestly hadn't meant to frighten her; he was just being blasé because he didn't have his blaster on him, to hide the fact that without it he felt just a bit, well, vulnerable. "It's okay" Emily forgave him immediately, just as a loud thud yanked their attention over to the left. "What are you doing to my TARDIS?!" Four demanded in alarm, as yet more natives began to drag the blue box, tipped onto its side, across the beach on a sleigh.

"This is _our _beach! Anything on this beach be"-

"Belongs to the Kanarme, yes, you did mention that before" Four interjected irritably, "And I think you'll find that that box belongs to _me_!"

"Not anymore" the native replied matter of factly. The natives had also grabbed the clothes and toys they had left abandoned on the sand whilst they enjoyed what was supposed to have been a relaxing break. The Corsair started to almost regret leaving his blaster in their TARDIS, charging up; it would have been so simple to grab the gun out of a hapless native's hand, and fire a shot or two in the air as a distraction whilst they all legged it back to the TARDIS.

/

The natives led their rather annoyed prisoners around a promontory, a heap of boulders and rocks from a long collapsed cliff, and up a steep, grassy slope to a cluster of huts, built with dried mud and roofed with palm tree leaves. The first Romana and Flavia both winced at the primitive and probably unsanitary conditions. Dogs roamed about, barking aggressively at the newcomers but not daring to approach their spear wielding captors. The native women and children stared with mixtures of cautious intrigue and outright hostility. A strong odour of fish permeated the air.

From the middle of the huts, the largest and most adorned, emerged a native clad in reddish leather, gold rings in his ears, nose and lips, tattoos covering his bare chest and a large headdress of palm leaves and feathers. The Time Lords were forced to their knees before the chief, who stared hard at them all as if they were cattle at a market, and he was debating whether to buy them or not. Emily shrank down in the relative safety of her mother's arms, looking up at the tall, imposing figure and wondering if he really might try and eat her like the Corsair said.

At last he spoke. "White strangers, you have trespassed on Kanarme land. As punishment, you belong to the Kanarme tribe. All spoils to the Kanarme!" he shouted, throwing his arms out wide, and an answering roar went up from his tribesmen. The tenth Romana desperately protested, "Please, we didn't _know _this was your land; just give us our belongings and let us go, we'll leave and never bother you again".

The Chief did not look pleased with her daring to speak up. "Silence! Show respect to the great Quetzoth!" barked the leader of the men who had captured them all, twirling his spear around and almost hitting her with the butt end. _Almost, _because Eleven grabbed the spear and rose to his feet, glaring angrily at the native and shoving the spear away. "Don't you _dare _hurt her" he snarled. The native yanked his spear back, and aimed the sharpened stone tip right at Eleven's jugular. "Kneel, or die!"

Eleven continued to glare furiously at him, hands clenched into fists. His Romana quickly reached out, grabbed his hand and rubbed the back of it with her thumb. "Do what he says, love. Please" she said simply. Eleven reluctantly lowered himself back to the ground, shooting one more warning scowl at the native before sighing and kissing the back of his wife's hand in reassurance. Four and the first Romana watched in silence, struck in different ways by how protective and caring their future selves were of one another.

Before Quetzoth could sentence them to one hundred years of servitude, or whatever he was planning to do, a newcomer arrived on the scene. He too was dressed in leather, had gold earrings and a chest decorated with tattoos and scars. He even resembled the Chief, albeit younger and with more chiselled features. Indeed, one could even call him 'handsome'. "What is this?" he demanded, staring boldly at Quetzoth.

"It is nothing, Makir. Be quiet, or I will be angry" the Chief warned him in a voice tinged with steel. Makir scoffed arrogantly and gestured at the Time Lords. "I will be ruler of the Kanarme soon. My orders were simple! If prisoners were captured, I was to be told straight aw"- He did a double take and pointed at the first Romana, staring. "Who is _she?_"

She opened her mouth to reply, only to remember what had almost happened to her future self for speaking without permission, and quickly shut her mouth again. The arrogant son of the Chief waved a hand and said dismissively, "It matters not. You are beautiful, and you will be my bride".

"_What?!" _

"You can't do that!" Flavia protested without thinking; she snapped her lips together when Makir's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And why not?" he demanded. Flavia didn't quite dare to speak; the Corsair, on the other hand, had no such reservations. "Well, you technically could, but it would be pretty rude. I agree that she's hot, but you can't marry someone just because they have a nice chest. Even _I _know that" he deadpanned.

These…words of wisdom apparently meant little to Makir, who turned to the Chief and asked for permission to arrange a wedding immediately. "Err, excuse, me, your…Chiefliness" Four began, trying to bluster his way out of the situation, "But there actually is an excellent reason why Romana cannot marry your, err, charming son – and that reason is…"

"She's already betrothed" the tenth Romana announced suddenly, pointing at the Fourth Doctor, "To him".

The natives, and the other Time Lords, all stared at her. "I am?" her past-self questioned in bewilderment. "She is?" Four asked, equally surprised.

"_Yes_" the tenth Romana insisted, giving them a pointed look, "And these two are also engaged" she added, gesturing to the Corsair and Flavia, who shot her slightly indignant stares. "So you see; none of us can be married off, and we are not prisoners of war… With all due respect, Chief Quetzoth, there is no reason to keep us here" Romana challenged the Chief, exuding more bravado than she actually felt. Her husband stared down the natives closest to her, practically daring them to try and attack her again, but their eyes were on their Chief.

Quetzoth, unfortunately, did not seem to be in a generous mood. Or rather he was, but it wasn't directed at the Time Lords. "Makir, you shall have your bride. Carim, bind and lock up the women and the child; they will make good slaves" he ordered the leader of the natives who had captured the Time Lords. A wave of protest rose from the kneeling prisoners, but it was quickly cut short by the spears being aimed at their throats.

"As you wish, O Great Chief", the native replied obediently before inquiring, "What of the males?"

"Execute them" Makir ordered callously, "To teach a lesson that none defy Makir and live!"

Struggling and shouting, the prisoners were dragged to their feet and away from one another. Eleven fought tooth and nail against the grasp of the native hauling him away from his wife and child. "Stop! Let me go! Romana! Emily!"

"Daddy! Daddy, help!"

"_Emily_!"

"Let go! Unhand us, you barbarians!"

"Agh, get off me! You lot are all _insane_!"

"Doctor, _do _something!"

"Like _what_?!"

"Look out!"

_Thud. _

/

Groaning, as consciousness gradually trickled back into his brain, Eleven slowly became aware that he was cold. Cold and wet, to be more precise, and his nose was being assaulted by a very strong scent of saltwater. He was also standing upright, which was odd considering he appeared to be waking up from what must have been a terrible nap, judging by the headache he had. Also, there was something hard pressed against his back and something rough and itchy wrapped around his wrists.

"Doctor? Doctor! Wake up!" a vaguely familiar voice called, "Romana's in danger!"

That did the trick. Eleven's eyes flew open; his head rose so fast he got whiplash, and winced at the sharp pain that shot through his neck muscles. That didn't matter though; all that mattered was that Romana and Emily needed him, and he was tied to a stupid post out in the ocean where he couldn't get to them. The Corsair was tied up on his left, the Fourth Doctor on his right, but Eleven ignored them both in favour of tugging fruitlessly at the ropes around his wrists and shouting.

"Doctor, shut up! No one can hear you!"

"You shut up! You don't have a wife and daughter being forced into slavery!" the Doctor shouted, throwing himself forward and straining. "Why. Won't. These. Ropes. Give!" he snarled, twisting and grimacing in pain. The Corsair kicked out with his right foot; it connected with the Doctor's shin, and the furious Time Lord shot him a glare fierce enough to quell a Dalek.

The Corsair stared back just as fiercely, and commanded in a voice of forced calm, "_Stop moving. _I want to escape and kick these natives' butts as much as you do, but you won't escape thrashing about like that. You'll just make the knots pull tighter, and risk dislocating one of your shoulders. Take a breath, for Omega's sake, and _think_".

Every single protective instinct inside him was screaming at the Eleventh Doctor to keep fighting, to get his family back; but his rational side thankfully overcame them. He drew in a long breath, closed his eyes, and opened his mind. He reached out to his Romana, and was supremely relieved when she responded. It meant she wasn't incapacitated, or in pain and trying to block it from him, or distracted trying to escape – on second thoughts, he wouldn't mind if she didn't reply because of that.

_Ro, are you alright? Is Emily safe? Are you with the others? What's happening? _

_Theta, calm down! I'm fine; well, as fine as I can be. So are Emily, Flavia and my past-self. They put all of us in a makeshift prison, tied up to palm trees. As for what's happening…Makir coerced Romana – the other one, I mean – into going through with the marriage. _

_How? No offence, love, but I think your first incarnation would rather admit that I'm clever than agree to marry a primitive, not very friendly arrogant creep. _

_I know, but...Theta, before I tell you what he did, I want you to promise me that you won't get angry or panic. _

_I promise._

_Good. He…He threatened to k-kill Emily if she refused to wed him one more time. _

_What?! That wretched son of a-!_

_Theta! You promised. _

_How do you expect me not to get angry at news like that? You said Emily was fine! She can't be fine, she must be traumatized! _

_She is scared, of course she is, but honestly, ever since they tied us up she's been insisting that you and the Fourth Doctor will come and save us. She has such amazing faith in you both...just like me. _

_I will save you. I promise. I will do whatever it takes. _

_I know you will. We'll do our best to escape as well. Do you have a plan? _

_Well…not right at the moment, but we will! Just hold on _he urged her, before opening his eyes and emerging from the telepathic trance. "Welcome back" the Corsair quipped, grunting slightly as he pulled his wrists apart. They were tied tight, but if he could just stretch them enough, he could pull his hands free.

"We need a plan" Eleven stated immediately, "Makir coerced Romana – your Romana, I mean" he added to his past-self, "Into going through with the marriage. So, here's the plan: we escape our death by high tide, or shark attack, whatever it is we're tied up out here for. Then we sneak back into the village, rescue Romana and Emily…and the other two, of course, get back to your TARDIS and fly it back to ours, and bob's your uncle!"

"What about our clothes?" Four demanded incredulously, "They took my scarf" he frowned. Eleven rolled his eyes at this frivolity and replied through clenched teeth, "Your scarf can be replaced. Romana is _irreplaceable_" he insisted. Four remembered how his future-self had reacted when one of the natives tried to hit his future wife, and suddenly felt very sorry for anyone who tried to come between the two of them.

The Corsair was still valiantly trying to work his way out of the ropes binding him to the post. "I'm going back for my blaster. You two can wave your sonics about as much as you like, I want an actual weapon in my hand" he explained, before something occurred to him. "Hang on a minute. Do either of you even _have _your sonics?"

Four and Eleven looked at one another. "Mine is my jacket…in the village" Eleven remembered, wincing. "So is mine" Four added. The Corsair stared at them both, dropped his head, and then stared straight ahead. He summed up their situation with one word, "Bugger".

/

A/N: I am rubbish at pacing, but you probably knew that already. There will be one more chapter (hopefully) of this story, but then I'll go back to slice of life stories. I just wanted to upload this now, because it's been long enough and between my new part time job at SWC (family business ), the gratifyingly nice weather, and my ideas for another fanfiction I'm planning to start work on during the rest of the DW hiatus, I've just got quite a few distractions from this story and 'Growing Pains'. But both will get updated, have no fear of that!


	12. Chapter 12 - Blast from the Past Pt 3

Disclaimer:  I don't own Doctor Who

Blast from the Past – Part Three

Emily was squirming, her mother was struggling, Flavia was wriggling and the first Romana was twisting. All four of them were attempting to get out of the tight, coarse ropes that were binding them to the palm trees, fenced in on all sides with posts of wood and braided spiky vines. "I cannot believe I'm being forced to marry a barbarian like this" the first Romana huffed frustratedly. "The Doctor should _never _have ignored our mission for the White Guardian in the first place. This is just so _typical _of him!"

"This isn't the Doctor's fault, you know" her future-self chided. Emily piped up, "Yeah, daddy's gonna save us- both of 'em, you'll see!"

"This wouldn't have happened if he'd found out beforehand if the natives here were hostile or not" the first Romana insisted, "And does your Doctor even care about the first law of time?"

"Our Doctor sees laws as suggestions" Flavia interjected dryly. Romana rolled her eyes, but didn't disagree; she looked at her past-self and replied, "Of course he does; our meeting was just accidental. If you must know, he was thinking about me when he put the co-ordinates in, not about the co-ordinates themselves. I'm just glad we ended up here instead of the middle of a volcano or something".

"…He was thinking about you?"

"He's always thinking about me, apparently. The feeling's mutual, really" the tenth Romana admitted with a fond smile, before getting back to the task of escaping. The ropes were definitely starting to feel looser. Her past-self paused in her struggles. "You really love him, don't you?" she realised. She'd seen them kiss (although she'd quickly glanced away to be polite), she'd seen the Doctor defend her future-self from harm and her future-self return the favour…but that small, gentle smile spoke volumes about how she would one day feel about the Doctor.

"Yes, and I know he feels the same way".

"I can tell, but…what happens after this? If we escape, I mean. The Doctor and I know our future now".

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. I don't remember meeting you from _my _point of view, so I think you and your Doctor will just have a bit of amnesia after we escape, which we will" Romana explained with firm confidence. As if her words were prophetic, Flavia finally managed to pull her left arm free; she dug a hand into her pocket and tugged out her sonic screwdriver.

In just five minutes, all four of them were free and on their feet. "What now? The only way past this fence is through the gate" the first Romana pointed out. Emily lay on her stomach and peered underneath the narrow gap between the fence and the sand. "There's somebody there" she declared, spotting a pair of feet with anklets that had teeth hanging from them.

"We'll try to break the vines apart with our sonics, and get back to our TARDIS" her mother decided, before adding, "But first I need to contact the Doctor – my Doctor, that is, and let him know we've escaped. I…don't want him to worry".

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reaching out to her husband. When she focused on him, she realised he was feeling very nervous, and her concern intensified. _Theta, are you okay? _

/

Meanwhile, Four, Eleven and the Corsair were still struggling to free themselves from the tight rope bindings around their wrists. There were benefits to being tied up, rather than hand-cuffed. Rope could give, it could be scraped and worn…the downside, of course, was that tugging on it was rather painful, especially when the rope was so rough. The water was now up to their mid-chests, and the saltwater stung the small cuts and scratches on their wrists, but they persevered; they didn't really have much of a choice, after all.

"Okay, note to self. Make sonic water-proof" the Corsair grumbled, "In fact, amended note to self, make blaster water-proof as well".

"Do you really think a blaster would help much?" Four wondered, wincing slightly at the mild pain in his wrists. He thought the ropes might be loosening…but then again, that might have been wishful thinking. They still weren't loose enough, unfortunately.

"If I'd had my blaster with me, we'd never have been captured in the first place. I can't believe they caught us off guard like that; just like I can't believe I'm having trouble getting out of a rope bind. I have _officially _lost my touch. Thanks a lot, Doctor. This is all your fault".

"Hey, don't blame _me _for you losing your touch_. _I didn't make you stay with us" Eleven reminded the Corsair. His past-self commented unhelpfully, "I thought he was blaming you for getting us captured".

"Oh, gee, thanks_. _And how do you figure that this is _my _fault?"

"You're the one who put in the co-ordinates" the Corsair shrugged. Eleven glowered petulantly at him and protested, "Well, how was _I_ supposed to know this would happen? You could have fought off those natives, Mr I Used to Be a Dangerous Spy".

"Oh yeah, taking on a bunch of guys with spears would have been a really smart move" the Corsair riposted sarcastically, "You can bring a knife to a gun fight but you don't bring fists to a knife fight".

"What does that even _mean_?"

"It means I didn't fancy getting skewered! And why exactly was I supposed to leap into action? You two didn't even try to talk them out of capturing us".

"_You're_ the one who told Emily the natives might be cannibals when she was already scared enough".

"It was a _joke_. She forgave me, and she wasn't _that _scared. She actually thought you were going to save the day, without your sonic, or any kind of plan…"

"Oh come on, you're as bad as me when it comes to making plans!" Eleven shot back. The Corsair opened his mouth to make a scathing retort, but the Fourth Doctor interrupted him with a sudden, "Shh! I think we have bigger problems!"

They followed Four's line of sight and spotted an ominous pointy dorsal poking up through the rippling waves. "Freeze!" the Fourth Doctor commanded, with enough force that the other two actually did so. "If we stay still, it might think we're just posts" he explained. They all froze in place, thinking wooden thoughts. The fin zig-zagged a little nearer, its owner apparently not put off by their lack of movement.

Eleven was distracted by his Romana reaching out to his mind, and asking_ Theta, are you okay? _

_What? Oh, yes! Yes, everything is completely fine. _

_Rule one, dear. It doesn't apply to me. _

_I…you're right. I just didn't want you to worry. _

_Worry about what, exactly? _

_Nothing! I mean, there _might _be a shark stalking us; but it might also be a dolphin! _

_There's a _shark_!_

_Or dolphin! It could be a dolphin – don't worry about us, we're pretending to be posts. It's probably gotten bored of us already. _

_Doctor, we've escaped; we're going to come and rescue you. Can you keep the shark at bay until we can get to the TARDIS?_

_Err, I think so…wait, which TARDIS? _Eleven asked, but she was already withdrawing from his subconscious. He opened his eyes and looked at the others; the Corsair was keeping an eye on the shark/possible dolphin, and his past-self was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "My wife says they're coming to rescue _us_. So much for our first plan" he sighed.

/

Romana opened her eyes and found her past-self standing before her. The first Romana stepped a bit closer and explained in a low voice, "Flavia is trying to break the vines apart like you suggested, but they're very tough. She needs your help…oh, and err, Emily has dubbed herself lookout" she added, gesturing to the four year old who was lying on her tummy, peering underneath the fence with her head resting on her arms. It was hard to tell if she was keeping watch or falling asleep.

Romana smiled in fond amusement and crouched down beside her daughter, placing a gentle hand on her back. Emily started slightly, and looked up at her mother inquisitively. "Come on, my little lookout. We're going back to our TARDIS, and then out to sea. Your dad's and godfather have got themselves into a bitof a mess".

"Are we gonna rescue them?!" Emily asked eagerly, scrambling to her feet. "Yes, we are, and we have to hurry. Remember, darling, you need to do exactly what I tell you, alright?"

Emily nodded dutifully; but then paused and inquired, "Mummy, if we gotta hurry, why don't we just go through the door?"

The tenth Romana was about to explain that they had to avoid the guard, but then she realised… "Emily, you clever girl" she beamed, kneeling and hugging her daughter tightly. Flavia walked over, wondering what was taking so long. Romana stood up once more, and hastily explained, "Breaking enough vines apart to escape will take ages, not to mention make it obvious we've escaped. Our best bet is to lure that guard inside here, knock him out and make it look like he abandoned his post".

"How do you propose we do that?" Flavia asked, exposing another wrinkle in the new plan. Four sets of brows furrowed…although Emily was only frowning because the grown-ups were. Every second that passed increased the tenth Romana's anxiety for her husband – both versions of him – and their friend. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was just five minutes, the first Romana came to an unpleasant conclusion. "I have to get married".

"What?"

"Not literally…well, not for hundreds of years" the first Romana said wryly, before focusing again, "I mean, I have to give in, and pretend to go through with this wedding. It's the best way of convincing the guard of opening that door and coming inside".

"You don't have to do that" her future-self insisted, but the first Romana shook her head. "Perhaps not, but do any of us have a better idea?" she pointed out. So the plan was reluctantly agreed upon; the tenth Romana, Emily and Flavia hid behind the door, ready to ambush the guard, and taking care not to cut themselves on the sharp thorns.

The first Romana stood with her back to the tree she'd been tied up to. After all, it would be more convincing if it seemed like she was still tied up. She took a deep breath, and called out "Alright, I give in! Are you listening? I will go through with this…wedding, you have planned. Come and untie me so I can prepare" she commanded. The door remained shut, and the guard gave no indication that he'd even paid attention.

"I mean it! I...I…have seen the errors of my ways. I should have _never _tried to disrespect your great chieftain and his son. In fact, I wish to be married to Makir right now!" the first Romana lied. She gagged a bit at the very thought, but she'd seen her future self's expression of alarm and knew that time was of the essence. "Please, untie me, and ah…I will reward you when I am the wife of the chief!"

The mention of a reward seemed to be just the incentive the guard needed; the door swung open, and a dark skinned youth strode in, hefting a spear taller than he was. His actual intention was to demand she be quiet, because she was getting on his nerves; but words failed him when he found that the prisoners he'd been ordered to guard had escaped. He barely had time to process this fact, the tenth Romana impulsively karate chopped him.

She regretted this the moment the poor teenager crumpled to the ground. "Oh, oh dear, I didn't know he'd be so young" she winced guiltily, before crouching down beside the boy, who was moaning in pain. "I'm really sorry about this" she apologised, reaching out and pressing her fingers to his temples, rendering him unconscious. "He'll be out of it for hours now…come on, let's find the fourth Doctor's TARDIS, it's the nearest one" she said decisively.

/

"Okay, come on you two, _think_" Eleven said urgently, "Let's put these brains to good use, eh? So, on the plus side, the creature that might be a dolphin but does appear to be a shark hasn't attacked us yet".

"On the downside, it's starting to circle us" the Corsair interjected, watching as the fin slid through the water in a wide arc around them. "I wonder what will get us first, the shark or the tide" he added pessimistically. He actually was using his brain, figuring out tactics to ward off the shark if it came in for an attack. Staying still and pretending to be a log would only work for so long if the animal could smell the blood on their wrists.

"Yes, the shark is rather unfortunate" Four agreed glibly, "But our friends have escaped, apparently, and they're on their way to rescue us. Hmm…it is different being on the other side of the equation, so to speak, isn't it? I don't like it".

"Me neither" his future-self agreed, "I'm glad they escaped, but I think they're going to try and get to your TARDIS; the closest TARDIS. The TARDIS that is in the village full of opportunistic scavengers who want to enslave them" he lamented. He wanted to tell his Romana not to risk it, to just escape back to their TARDIS and keep away from the natives, but contacting her telepathically would distract her and that could be disastrous.

Four blinked. "Ah…that wasn't quite what I meant, but yes, that's very bad too" he agreed. Eleven gave him an irritated, deadpan glare. "Oh, cheer up old chap. I'm sure they're all having better luck getting away than we are. Look on the bright side! They're free, they'll come to rescue us, and there's only one shark" Four reasoned cheerfully. His future incarnation and the Corsair both stared at him in disbelief. "You just _had _to say that last part, didn't you?" the Corsair groaned.


	13. Chapter 13 - Blast from the Past Pt 4

Disclaimer:  I don't own Doctor Who

Blast from the Past – Part Four

From their vantage point on a ridge overlooking the village, hiding behind thick trunked palm trees, the Time Ladies could see that getting into it without being seen would be very difficult. _They're all helping to prepare for this arranged wedding; we'll never be able to just sneak around unnoticed, we stand out too much _Flavia pointed out to the tenth Romana.

_I know, and I don't see the fourth Doctor's TARDIS anywhere. We need to get to a TARDIS soon – the Doctors and the Corsair are being stalked by a shark, and I don't think any of them have their sonics._

_Oh, that's not good. Wait, look! _Flavia exclaimed, spotting Makir emerging from the Chief's hut, dressed in some kind of ceremonial robe of animal skins. He spoke to another native, who then headed up towards the ridge and the makeshift prison the Time Ladies had been trapped inside.

They all quickly moved away from the prison…except for the first Romana. She struggled with herself, and then looked back at her future-self, who urgently beckoned to her. _I am seriously going to regret this decision…but it is for the best _she thought to herself, before calling to the others, "I'll distract them. Go back to your own TARDIS, and hurry!"

Before the tenth Romana or Flavia could try and stop her, the first Romana walked boldly towards the prison. She found the native who was presumably sent to retrieve her, shaking awake and berating the young man they had incapacitated. When he spotted her, she spoke before he had a chance to. "Take me to Makir. I wish to speak to him straight away".

"Where are the other captives?"

"They have escaped, obviously. Now, take me to Makir, it is of great importance" she ordered, in the most imperious voice she could muster. Fortunately, this particular native didn't seem to be the sharpest spear in the arsenal; he nodded and led her back to the village. Every native was gathered around a circular arena, with Makir and Quetzoth in the middle. Romana discovered that her Doctor's scarf had become part of Makir's ceremonial outfit. He was wearing it like a trophy, and her distaste for him grew even more.

"She tried to get away, but she was caught" the native who had led her there explained to his Chief. Romana didn't bother to correct this statement. Quetzoth demanded, "What of the other prisoners?"

"…They, ah, they have…perhaps…"

"Spit it out!"

"Escaped, great Quetzoth" the hapless native admitted, prostrating himself before the Chief. Makir's eyes widened in anger – he strode forward and kicked the man in the head. "Fool! Gull-brain! Who let them escape?!" he demanded, "I will have their heads on a pike!"

Romana decided she needed to step in; as much as she loathed these natives, the young man who had been ordered to guard them wasn't really to blame – he was just doing his job. "Makir?" she spoke up, hoping that she sounded convincingly meek. To her relief, he cut short his tirade to stare at her. "If you forget my fellow prisoners, I will marry you without hesitation. I simply want your word that you will leave the others alone, and give me time to prepare" she explained, not looking him in the eye. Partly to make herself seem submissive; and also because she just hated the sight of him.

Much to her relief, Makir actually seemed to acquiesce. "Very well, my bride; go into the hut and dress in your robes. The wedding will take place the moment you emerge" he declared. Romana nodded, and hurriedly moved inside the Chiefs hut. Inside she found something that set a huge smile blooming on her face – the TARDIS! It had been moved back to an upright position, and judging from the way it was humming, it was rather cross. The clothes the natives had stolen were lying on a table, along with the belongings in their pockets.

Romana walked up to the table, ignoring the robes hanging up to one side, and rummaged through the items for the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Once she'd found it, she swiftly she ran up to the TARDIS, opening the door and stepping inside. Poor K-9 was lying on his side, and she righted him. "K-9, can you hear me? Are you damaged?"

There was a pause, and then the automatons ear sensors swivelled. "I can hear you, Mistress" he confirmed. Romana breathed a sigh of relief. "Good dog. Now listen, I need you to go outside and stand guard. There are dangerous natives out there; if any of them come into the hut, stun them. Do you understand?"

"Affirmative" K-9 replied, wheeling himself towards the doors. Romana opened them for him, and once he was outside the TARDIS, she quickly set about firing up the pilot location program. "This is the first piece of good luck we've had all day" she said to herself, smiling in relief at having escaped.

/

Four's fate tempting statement had, much to their chagrin, come true. There were now three sharks swimming in their vicinity; so far, they were just swimming closer and then quickly darting away, as if they were afraid of the large prey. "I've got an idea" Eleven suddenly announced, "If we tempt the sharks to come up behind us and try to bite our hands, they'll bite through the ropes and we can escape!"

"Seriously?" the Corsair asked, "I know we're getting desperate, but that's one of the stupidest plans you've ever come up with".

"Yeah, well, almost getting drowned and stalked by sharks puts me under a lot of pressure, okay?" Eleven shot back, lifting his head away from the water that was over his shoulders. He was struggling with the ropes around his wrists, hoping desperately that he could get free and swim to shore before the sharks got him. How did you fight off a shark again? Hit it on the nose, right? Or was it the gills?

The three of them looked up when they heard the TARDIS materialise. The fourth Doctor's TARDIS appeared before them, hovering shakily above the water. The door flopped open and the first Romana called from inside, "Is anything happening?"

"Was something supposed to?" Four called back. The time machine wobbled suddenly and then stabilised. "I was trying to sonic you free but I can't let go of the controls!" Romana shouted an explanation. Fortunately, at that moment the cavalry arrived. The Time Quintet's TARDIS materialised beside the other one; its doors opened to reveal Emily and Flavia, pointing two sonic screwdrivers out at the three tied up Time Lords.

Eleven beamed proudly. "Oh good girl, Emily! That's it, just point and think!"

"Think what?"

"About the ropes brea"- Eleven spluttered as a wave surged over his shoulders and saltwater got in his mouth.

"Err, no pressure, but you two might want to hurry!" the Corsair exclaimed in alarm, seeing that the sharks had apparently decided that three odd looking meals were better than no meals at all. Luckily, Emily and Flavia managed to break the ropes around their wrists, and they swam up to the TARDISes, hauling themselves inside as fast as they could.

Four muttered a hasty apology to his ship for getting water all over her console, and hurried to help Romana stabilise everything. "Where's K-9?" he asked, noting a distinct lack of tin dog. "I told him to cover for me" she explained, answering a communications call from the other TARDIS. Flavia appeared on the monitor. "We're going back for our belongings, but our Romana asked me to tell you to put your TARDIS on silent mode. She'd have told you herself, but…she's a bit distracted".

"I can imagine" the first Romana replied in amusement. Flavia ended the call, and Romana began dematerialising silently. She looked to Four for help, but he just stared at the Time Rotor, and then asked blankly, "We have a silent mode?"

/

Makir had grown impatient. "You!" he snapped, pointing at a native woman, who flinched fearfully. "Go inside and find out what is taking my bride so long. Drag her out by her hair if you have to!" he barked, and she helplessly hurried forward towards the hut, more scared of Makir than of breaking the sacred law that none but the Chief and his son could enter that particular abode.

She pulled up short when the Corsair stepped out, dry and dressed, aiming a strange weapon at her. "Step aside" he ordered stiffly; the woman obeyed straight away. The Corsair stalked up to Makir and Quetzoth; Carim, the zealous guard, rushed to intercept him. One stun blast later and the native was crumpled on the ground, eliciting gasps of shock and outrage from all around. The Corsair ignored them, and aimed his blaster at the Chief and Chief's son. "Don't. Move" he advised.

Four and Eleven emerged – the former strode right up to Makir without missing a beat and pulled his scarf from the man's neck. "I'll have that back, thank you. Ah, that's better" he grinned, looping the snake of wool around his own shoulders, and stepping aside. Eleven stalked up to Makir, and the native saw such a fire in the man's eyes that for the first time in a long time, he was genuinely afraid.

"I'm not usually a violent person" Eleven began, speaking calmly, which even Makir could tell was not a good sign, "But considering you tried to enslave my wife, daughter and friend, and marry another friend of mine _against her will, _I think I'm well within my right to do _this_" he threatened, pulling his fist back for a punch in the jaw.

"Wait!" the first Romana called, and the Eleventh Doctor barely managed to stop himself from punching Makir. She strode right up to her would be husband and informed him, "In case it wasn't obvious, I was lying about being willing to marry you", before unleashing the hardest slap she could muster. Makir stumbled back slightly, putting a hand to his sore cheek.

Eleven took the opportunity to punch Makir in the face anyway, and then Quetzoth too, for good measure. If he didn't know that his Romana wouldn't like it, he would have thrown the pair in a black hole for _daring _to come between him and his family. The Corsair covered them as they retreated back to the Chief's hut, and their TARDISes, keeping the angry natives at bay with his blaster. When he ducked into the hut, an enraged Makir rushed after him with a spear – but by the time he burst into the hut, the two blue boxes were disappearing before his eyes.

/

The two TARDISes landed opposite one another _very _far away from the Kanarme tribe, or any other tribe for that matter. They had retrieved all their belongings, as well as K-9, and were now getting ready to say their goodbyes. "So, Emily, can you see now why it isn't a good idea to cross our own timelines?" Eleven asked his daughter, who nodded emphatically and said, "Scary stuff might happen!"

"Well, you were very brave today" her mother told her, giving Emily a kiss on the cheek before setting her down on the warm sand. "I should say so!" Four beamed; he pulled a white bag out of his pocket and crouched down before Emily. "Would you like a jelly baby, my dear?"

Emily's eyes and smile widened with glee; she stumbled forwards and picked a yellow Jelly Baby from the bag, popping it in her mouth. Much to Four's pleasant surprise, she then came right up and put her little arms around his middle as far as she could reach. He chuckled, lifted her up with one arm and held the bag of sweets out with his other hand. They all took one, deciding unanimously that they had earned it.

"I want to thank you" the tenth Romana told her past-self, "for everything, but I don't think I can thank you enough".

"You don't need to" the first Romana assured, giving her future daughter a farewell hug. "It's enough to know that you're…that I'm going to be very happy one day" she smiled. Four nodded and agreed, "Yes, this wasn't the relaxing break I was expecting, but then again it never is, is it? Still, it's nice to know I've got a bright distant future ahead of me" he remarked cheerfully, shaking his future self's hand.

There were hugs and handshakes all round, and then Four and Romana returned to their own TARDIS and their own timeline. The Blinovitch Limitation Effect began to take hold not long after they had been in the Vortex. "Did we go to Halergan 3?" the Doctor asked, puzzled, "I can't seem to remember". Romana checked the instruments and said, "According to the TARDIS, we just left…funny, I don't really remember what happened either. I suppose it must have been rather dull" she mused.

/

Later, far away in the future, Romana settled her tired daughter down for a nap. The Doctor was waiting for her when she emerged from Emily's bedroom, and she stepped into his arms with a contented sigh. "Do you think beaches will stop being Emily's favourite place after this?" he wondered idly, breathing in the scent of her strawberry shampoo.

"Maybe…I don't think any of us will be too upset if we don't see another beach, or spear wielding natives for a while" Romana answered, before giving her husband a sultry smile. "You know, we've been through a lot today…" she murmured, playing with his bow tie.

"Mm-hmm"

"We could probably do with some TLC…"

"Your wish is my command, milady" he replied, lifting her off her feet and kissing her passionately. As he carried her back to her bedroom, Romana reflected with amusement that she had once thought that holiday trip had been _boring. _

/

A/N: And done! Whew! I'm glad this is over with, but in the end, I enjoyed writing it. I really hope all of you enjoy reading it too!


	14. Chapter 14 - Babysitting Blunders

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I am sooooo sorry for the long wait, guys. I've been busy with work, and studying for my driving theory test, which I passed! Yay! Anyway, to make up for the long wait, here's a longish chapter for you. Enjoy!

Babysitting Blunders

"For the last time, we've got it covered" the Corsair rolled his eyes in exasperation. "We know what she's having for lunch, we know not to let her watch any scary movies"-

"That includes 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail" the Doctor interjected, straightening his bow tie, "That rabbit is far too frightening" he added with a shudder. Emily, who was sitting on the captain's chair swinging her legs, tilted her head curiously and asked "How come?"

The Corsair looked over and remarked, "It isn't that scary, Emz. Your dad's just being a wimp". The Doctor shot him an annoyed glare, but then he heard someone clear their throat behind him. Romana was standing there, her soft brown hair in long, wavy curls, dressed in an amethyst thigh length dress with glittering diamantes around the waist and lavender sandals that showed off her pearly white painted toes.

He felt the breath leave him, and smiled tenderly. "You're beautiful" he breathed reverently and she blushed, smiling. Emily jumped off the chair and skipped up to her mother, smiling cheerfully. "Wow mummy, you look really pretty" she beamed. The Corsair and Flavia gave nods and grins of approval.

"Oh, thank you sweetheart" Romana said gratefully, smiling at her daughter and then at her husband, "And thank you. You're very handsome" she complimented and he beamed, pleased. He offered her his arm and gently inquired, "Ready to go?"

Romana nodded, and Emily asked eagerly, "Can I come?"

The Doctor chuckled and knelt down in front of Emily to explain, "Your mummy and I are having a bit of one on one time, darling. It's a grown up thing, you'll understand when you're older. Besides, you'll have a lot more fun here with your godparents". He kissed her on the forehead and stood up, letting Romana kneel in front of Emily and gently cup her cheeks. "You be a good girl and do as you're told, okay?" she told Emily, who nodded.

Romana and the Doctor bid goodbye to their fellow pilots, and their daughter one last time, and finally left to go on their date. Flavia smiled down at Emily and inquired, "Well then, what would you like to do first?"

Emily screwed her little face up in thought; she opened her mouth to reply, but then the Corsair suddenly exclaimed, "Oh bug…spray" he trailed off at Flavia's raised eyebrow, "I just remembered, I was supposed to fix the washing machine".

"Surely you can leave it for a while…?"

"Three days ago" he deadpanned. Flavia grimaced slightly at the thought of all those unwashed clothes and replied, "Well, I suppose I can look after Emily for a while…"

"Sure you can!" the Corsair said cheerfully, "I won't be long. She's got that doll house the Doctor and I built to play with now, that'll keep her occupied".

"And what do you suggest I do?"

"Play with her, read a book…knit? I dunno".

Flavia sighed. "Alright, you fix the machine and I'll keep an eye on Emily. Come along, dear" she said gently, reaching down to take the little girl's hand. Emily pouted and protested, "But I don't wanna play, I wanna go exploring!"

"We'll go exploring later, dear. Your parents want us to keep an eye on you, and you _did _promise to do as you were told" Flavia reminded her. Emily sighed and reluctantly followed her godmother to her nursery, filled with various books and toys that she'd already played with a hundred times. She had been gifted with a doll house for her fifth birthday, just a few months ago. It was the size of a regular doll house on the outside, but if she opened the whole front up and crawled inside, she could stand up and move around, even go upstairs.

As fun as playing pretend in her own little house was, it only had so many rooms – but the TARDIS had hundreds and hundreds! Emily had wanted to explore her home properly for ages, on her own. It seemed like it would be more fun that way, and her daddy always said their home was the safest place in the universe. She wasn't allowed to wander off in case she got hurt, but if she couldn't get hurt inside the TARDIS then it didn't matter if she wandered off, did it?

Flavia sat with Emily for about half an hour outside the 'doll house', having a tea party. The invisible 'tea' in their little faux china cups made Flavia thirsty for some actual tea; and surely, she thought, Emily would be okay on her own for a little bit. "I don't know about you, but I think some real Earl Grey would be nice right now. Would you like a drink, dear?"

"Can I have some orange juice please?"

"Of course; you'll be alright whilst I go and fetch it all?"

Emily nodded. Flavia got to her feet and left the room, closing the door behind her– her goddaughter closed her eyes and concentrated, following Flavia's mind as she walked down the corridor and into the kitchen. Her eyes snapped open. "Can I go exploring now?" she asked aloud. There was a long pause, and then the TARDIS hummed, the door clicking open. Emily grinned excitedly and ran out of the room, her little legs propelling her down the corridor in the opposite direction to where her godparents were.

/

Flavia paused and moved the carton of orange juice away from the blue plastic cup. She had an unpleasant feeling that something wasn't right…Emily had moved, she could sense it. Where was she going? Flavia set the carton down, not willing to risk spilling it, and closed her eyes. _Emily? Where are you? _

_The bathroom _came a reply; there was an en-suite attached to her nursery, so Flavia didn't question it further.

_Alright then, I'll be back in a few minutes with your drink._

_There's no rush _Emily answered hastily, and Flavia frowned in suspicion.

_Emily, are you okay? _

The only response was a mental image of a door – Emily was trying to block her. Now thoroughly suspicious, Flavia left the kitchen and walked down the corridor. When she reached the point where the nursery should have been, and found only a blank wall, her suspicions were confirmed. "She's wandered off, and you're helping her, aren't you?" she accused the TARDIS, which merely hummed. Flavia sighed and muttered, "I'm talking to a machine...at the very least tell me which way she went" she added aloud.

There was a pause, and then the lights in the corridor ahead of her flickered. Flavia nodded in thanks and walked with purpose down the corridor. Emily couldn't have gotten very far...then she considered that the child had a sentient, mischievous time machine capable of reorganising its inner structure on her side, amended her previous statement, and broke into a run.

/

Emily had no set plan in mind, but when she sensed Flavia following her, she ducked through the first open door she came across…and gasped in delight when she clapped eyes on what lay inside. _Butterflies, _whole flocks of them, were fluttering around a grove full of beautiful flowers. A distant memory floated to the forefront of her mind, of a garden filled with flowers, sitting in the middle of a giant daisy…

A monarch butterfly landed on her pink t-shirt; Emily smiled down at it briefly before it flitted away. There was a crazy paving path stretching between the flower beds, which Emily followed; the room was very large, so large she couldn't see the ceiling, and if she stuck to the path she couldn't get lost. To amuse herself, she pointed at and named all the flowers and butterflies that she recognised. "Rhododendron, delphinium, Red Admiral, chrysanthemums, orchids, a Glasswing…ooh, a Birdwing!"

She smiled at the large butterfly, and held out a hand in hopes that it would alight on her. Instead, the beautiful insect flapped its wings and leisurely made its way over to some flowers to drink nectar. Slightly disappointed, Emily dropped her arm...but the sight of the butterflies feeding gave her what she thought was a brilliant idea. _Mummy likes flowers – I could pick some and give them to her...oh, and daddy might like some too, and Flavia…I'm not sure about the Corsair, but I don't want to leave him out, so I'll pick some for him too _she decided.

There were, after all, no signs to say she _couldn't _pick the flowers – and in any case there were plenty of them, and the butterflies would help them grow more. "Le'see…mummy likes blue, green and purple, so…" Emily plucked a clump of blue asters, some foxgloves and green orchids. With this little bouquet in her left hand, she set about picking flowers for her godmother, remembering that Flavia liked orange and white colours. She found some pretty orange and yellow spotted flowers (according to the small label in the soil, they were called 'Million Bells') and picked a few, along with some hydrangea's.

With both hands full, Emily pondered what to do next. She decided to leave the room and find her way to Flavia's and her mummy's bedrooms…briefly, Emily wondered if she might stumble across her godfather's bedroom on this little adventure. The Corsair had sternly told her once that she was not to go into his room under any circumstances, because it was full of things that a little girl shouldn't see, but of course Emily couldn't help wondering just what these things were.

She returned the way she had come, and stepped out into the corridor. There was no sign of her godparents, and Emily giggled softly – who knew being sneaky could be so much fun? She made her way down the corridor, and the door slid closed behind her…but not before a birdwing butterfly, metallic green wings shining, flittered out of the room and alighted on the wall beyond.

/

Meanwhile, Flavia was getting frustrated. As she rounded the corner and found herself in the same stretch of corridor as before, she scowled up at the ceiling and said aloud, "I don't know what you're playing at, but you had better stop ri"-

"Flavia?" the Corsair asked as he stepped out of a doorway behind her, "What are you doing? Where's Emily?"

"She sneaked off" Flavia admitted, a twinge of guilt hitting her at letting her goddaughter wander away like this.

The Corsair's eyes widened. "She did what? Where? Why? How?"

"I just told you, she sneaked off, I don't know where she went, or why, I just know that she left the nursery when I went to get us both drinks" Flavia explained, before adding, "Now the TARDIS is helping her and making things difficult for _me_".

"But…we're telepathic, why didn't you just tell her to come back?"

"Do you think I haven't tried that? She keeps blocking me out…or trying to, at least".

"She's only five years old, her mental barriers can't be _that _strong".

"Well like I implied, they aren't, but how would you like it if someone poked a message into _your _head because your mental barriers weren't strong enough?"

"Touché" the Corsair thought hard for a moment and decided, "Okay, we know she's still inside the ship, and if it is helping her then it probably won't let her into anywhere dangerous. As for finding her…follow me, I have an idea". He turned and strode off down the corridor; Flavia hurried to catch up with him.

/

Having liberated the flowers from their fragrant prison, and placed them in plastic jugs of water she'd filled up in a bathroom, Emily paused at another open doorway. Her eyes grew wide with wonder…elaborate skyscrapers (or so they seemed to her) of Lego towered inside, bright and inviting colours of red, yellow and blue dominating the space. She had the presence of mind to set the jugs carefully on the floor, before setting off exploring this new room.

Why hadn't anybody told her about this place before? Ever since she'd seen 'The Lego Movie', she'd loved building things out of the little plastic bricks; and whilst she'd grown bored with the creations in her nursery, the way young children were wont to do, Emily believed she could never tire of this. There was a Lego _everything _in here, as far as she could tell – a Lego giraffe, a Lego mansion, a Lego car with a wheel that really moved, a Lego aeroplane and so much more.

Yet tire of it she did; after all, there were many more rooms to discover, and she wanted to find as many as possible on this outing…since she'd probably get grounded for a really, _really _long time when her godparents caught up with her. Besides, she still had to deliver the flowers! After sliding down a helter-skelter built around a Lego tower one more time, Emily retrieved the jugs, setting off in search of yet more interesting rooms.

/

The Corsair and Flavia walked into the console room; the first thing they noticed was a large, metallic turquoise butterfly resting on the control panel. "What the…?" Flavia blinked at it in bemusement. The Corsair chuckled and remarked, "Emz must have found her way into the butterfly room".

"There's a butterfly room?"

"Apparently" he shrugged, pressing some buttons on the console as the butterfly flitted off to land on the hand railing. The machine whirred and whined, the lights dimming briefly before brightening once more. "What did you do?" Flavia inquired curiously.

"I defaulted the corridors back to their original location; now we can scan for Emily properly, not trying to trail a faint mental trace; and the TARDIS won't be able to twist the corridors before we catch up with her".

"I didn't know you could do that".

"Eh, knocking about, you pick up a few things" the Corsair shrugged. The TARDIS creaked and hummed; he rolled his eyes and remarked by way of the ceiling, "Well you should have thought of that earlier, shouldn't you? Okay, let's see what we've got here". He and Flavia watched as a map appeared on the monitor screen, with two red dots in the middle – but only two.

"I don't see any sign of Emily" Flavia frowned at the screen. The Corsair twiddled a knob and the map layout altered. "It's searching by sectors" he explained, giving her an odd look, "You don't know much about the TARDIS, d'you?"

"I was trained to operate a more efficient – I mean, different model to a Type 40" Flavia explained, clearing her throat, "Besides, I would have studied the manual, but a certain someone has apparently tossed it in a supernova".

"Aw, you don't need a dusty old manual. The only way to learn about a TARDIS is to fly it; that, and press buttons to see what they do".

"You do realise that pressing the wrong combinations of buttons could cause a lot of damage to both the TARDIS and the fabric of space-time?"

"Well duh; that's why you only press one button at a time" the Corsair replied, as if it were obvious. Then he grinned and tapped the screen, where a little red dot had appeared, moving up a corridor. "There she is; port side, sector four, which means she should be…that-a-way" he decided, pointing down a corridor towards their left. He pulled out his sonic and scanned the screen, before running off in the direction he'd indicated with the sonic held out. Flavia glanced at the screen and followed him, hoping they'd find Emily soon.

/

Emily grew tired of holding the jugs of flowers, so she was happy to find her godmother's bedroom, marked with Gallifreyan writing on the door. She'd never been inside, but Flavia hadn't told her she _couldn't _enter, so she set one of the jugs on the floor and stretched up on tiptoes to turn the doorknob. The door clicked and swung open, revealing a room of light cream and fawn, very neat and tidy.

Realising that her godmother might not be happy if she spilt water on the carpet, Emily held the jug with both hands as she carried it over to the bedside table. There was only a lamp and book on the table; Emily set the jug of orange and white flowers down nice and carefully. She had a look around; there was a bed with light orange and brown striped covers, a wardrobe, a bookcase full of books and a door that probably led to a bathroom. It was clean and pretty and…rather boring, really.

Her parent's bedroom was somewhere nearby; she could put the rest of the flowers in there, and go back to her nursery as if nothing had happened. Maybe she could take a quick peek into the Corsair's room as well. Emily retrieved the second jug from the floor of the corridor and carried it down the corridor to her parent's room. A few moments later she emerged, sans jug, and skipped off in search of her godfather's quarters.

Half-way down the corridor Emily paused, realising that her godparents seemed closer than she thought…but that was okay, the TARDIS would help her sneak away. She continued on, looking for a door marked 'Corsair', unaware of the corridors being fixed in their current positions.

/

Her godparents found the door to Flavia's bedroom ajar; the latter hurried inside, looking around to check that nothing was out of place. She frowned in confusion, spotting the plastic jug full of white and orange flowers. "I didn't put these here...Emily must have" she realised, smiling fondly, "Oh, bless". The Corsair pulled out his sonic and scanned the corridor – it beeped, Emily was nearby...but so was his bedroom. He took off at a run, almost skidding around corners, and finally found Emily standing in front of a closed door.

She looked round, eyes wide, and squeaked in surprise as the Corsair marched over and scooped her up. "Gotcha!" he cried triumphantly; the little girl squirmed and took a deep breath, but before she could squeal or shriek her way out of this, Flavia came around the corner. "Emily, there you are! We've been looking everywhere for you, do you have _any _idea how worried we've been?" she scolded.

"Um…no?"

"Do you have any idea how worried your parents would be if they found out we'd lost you?"

"But I – I'm safe in here, daddy said so, and I just wanted to explore, and I was gonna come back, honest!" Emily insisted. She really hadn't thought they'd be worried…cross, maybe, but why worried? She was always safe in her home, wasn't she?

"Emz, if you wanted to explore so badly, why didn't you ask Flavia to go with you? Or wait for me to finish fixing machinery?"

"Cos I was bored, and I thought exploring on my own would be more fun…but it isn't, really. I'm sorry" she apologised, pouting. "Aww…I mean, ahem, you're still in big trouble young lady" he warned, trying to sound stern.

"Quite; as for how much trouble, I think we'll let your parents decide that, hmm?" Flavia suggested; Emily's eyes widened once more, and she shook her head frantically. "No! Don't tell mummy and daddy, please! They'll ground me for forever!"

"Well, maybe next time we tell you not to wander off, you'll listen to us" Flavia admonished. The Corsair then added, "Okay, we'll let you off the hook for now, but when your folks get back…"

Emily sniffled, looking up at her godfather with tears in her eyes, pouting more than ever. "Oh dear" he commented, "Crocodile tears…there's only one cure for them, isn't there?" He started to tickle her mercilessly and she wriggled, her squeals of laughter ringing through the hallway. Pretty soon both her godparents were chuckling too, and poor Emily ended up with a case of the hiccups.

This led to a search for the kitchen to get a glass of water, which in turn led to the Corsair teaching Emily how to bake. An hour and a lot of broken eggs and flour later, they had lots of little cupcakes to eat. Flavia managed to stop the pair from eating _all _of them, since Emily was tempted to see how many she could eat without feeling sick. They entertained the little girl with stories of adventure, both real and fictitious, just letting the hours roll by until the Doctor and Romana returned.

Emily practically threw herself into their arms, rambling happily. "Hi mummy! Hi daddy! Did you have fun? I had fun! I got you some flowers, I put them in your room, and the Corsair and I baked cupcakes, and I found a Lego room, and"-

"You found the Lego room? I've been looking for that for ages, did the Corsair show it to you?" the Doctor asked curiously. Emily realised what she'd said, and covered her mouth with a hand. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the Corsair and Flavia, who glanced awkwardly at one another.

"That's not _exactly _what happened…"

"Err, Corsair? Flavia?" Romana questioned, looking at something over their shoulders, "Why are there butterflies in the console room?"

All five of them looked over to see a few monarch butterflies resting on the handrails. The Corsair blinked in surprise, looked at Flavia and said, "I thought we'd forgotten something".


	15. Chapter 15 - Learning Lessons

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Learning Lessons &amp; Teaching Troubles

Part One – Cycling

It was a bright, sunny day on Calliope, two suns tinged violet hanging overhead as the Time Quintet enjoyed a picnic in a lavender coloured meadow. They had stopped a 'plague of demonic locusts', in actuality a battalion of Wiirn, from overrunning a local village. They'd been about to leave when Emily had grown hungry, so they'd decided to stop for a little while and have a picnic.

The picnic didn't hold Emily's short attention span for long; she face-planted in her mother's lap, rolled over and huffed, "I'm _bored_".

"Where do you want to go next, then?" the Corsair inquired, reaching over and snagging another ham and cheese roll from the picnic basket.

"I dunno, I dunno enough planets…can we go to Florinall 9? I wanna ride the fire-falls!" Emily asked eagerly, perking up at the thought of surfing on lava. She turned pleading eyes on her mummy and daddy…mostly her mummy, because her daddy usually let her get away with almost anything. Romana hesitated – she wasn't sure a four year old should be around liquid that hot…but before she could reply, the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! I've got an idea, we'll go to Florinall 9 right afterwards, but first do you want to learn how to ride a bike?"

Emily blinked and tilted her head to the side. "What's a bike?"

"Well, it's, it's a metal frame, with two wheels, and you sit on the seat and pedal" the Doctor tried to explain, gesticulating, before getting to his feet and cheerfully saying, "It's fun! Trust me sweetheart, you'll like it. Just wait there…" He hurried into the TARDIS, emerging soon afterwards with a shiny blue and white little bicycle with stabilisers, sparkly tassels hanging from the white handlebars and a shiny silver bell.

"Doctor, are you sure about this?" Flavia asked, "Emily's only four, after all".

"It's never too early to start learning new things" the Doctor replied straightaway, smiling down at Emily as she dinged the little bell. He gave her a rundown of how the bike worked. "So you sit on this saddle here, and hold the handlebars, and you put your feet on these pedals. You push one down and the other goes up and around, like this, and it moves the chain – careful, you don't want to get your fingers caught in it – and that moves the wheels, see? These are the brakes, you squeeze them to slow down and stop, okay?"

"I wanna try!" Emily demanded, attempting to clamber onto the seat. The Doctor chuckled at her enthusiasm and helped her onto the bicycle. "Now this bike has stabilising wheels, so you won't fall over. All you've got to do is put your feet on the pedals – yep, just like that – and push one foot down – no, the other foot, that's it, the other one comes up, push that one down…and there you go! You're pedalling!"

Emily pedalled along, quite quickly in fact… the Doctor had to walk pretty fast to keep up with her. She looked up at him and asked, "Um, how do I turn around?"

"Oh yes, of course, steering! Steering is easy; if you want to turn left, you pull the left handlebar towards you, but – gently!" he cried as Emily gave the handle a firm tug, sending her off balance and toppling off the bicycle. Fortunately the Doctor was right there to catch and right her. "It's okay, I've got you…d'you wanna try again?"

She nodded, so he let go of the bike and let her start pedalling again. She pulled the left handle towards her, more gently this time, and gradually move in a wobbly semi-circle to face back towards the TARDIS and the rest of her family. Deciding to stop, she squeezed the brakes and jerked forward from the momentum. "Careful!" her dad chided, checking she wasn't hurt, "You don't need to squeeze the brakes that hard".

"Daddy, can…can you take the other wheels off?" Emily asked, pointing at the stabilising wheels sticking out from the frame of the bike. The Doctor blinked in surprise and asked, "You want to take the stabilisers off already?"

"Yeah! Stay-bill-izers are _boring_! You said so, daddy".

"Ah, but I was talking about the stabilisers on the TARDIS. It's not as easy riding a bike without stabilisers, darling; you could fall off".

"Don't care!" Emily insisted stubbornly, "I wanna ride on my own!" She folded her arms and pouted. The Doctor sighed, and knelt down to detach the stabilisers from the bike. Romana watched him anxiously, biting her lip, torn between hurrying over to stop him taking the extra wheels away and encouraging her daughter to ride on her own.

Once the wheels were off, the Doctor wheeled Emily along until she was pedalling fast enough. "Don't stop pedalling" he advised her, "Ready?"

"Yeah!"

He gave her one last push and off she went, her little legs pedalling as fast as they could up the gentle slope, her face screwed up in determination. "I don't believe it" the Corsair said, "She's doing it! She's actually cycling!"

"Oh, well done Emily!"

"Come on, that's it! You can do it!" Romana encouraged Emily, who doggedly pedalled along before coming to a stop right in front of her, panting. The Doctor ran up and pulled his daughter off the bike, letting it fall to one side, and cuddled her. "Oh, you clever girl!" he enthused, swinging a giggling Emily around, "Look at you! You rode a bike!"

Romana and her godparents came over for a group hug, and to congratulate Emily…she was very pleased at all the praise, but then her tummy rumbled. "Aww, now I'm hungry again!"

The others chuckled in amusement. "How about we go to Gelato World and buy you some ice cream as a treat, then?" the Doctor suggested, and she beamed excitedly. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

/

Part Two – Swimming

After the success of Emily's very first bike ride, the Doctor set his sights on teaching her how to swim. The most she had done before was paddle on the steps of the pool and get pushed around on a Lillo, so Emily was very excited at this prospect…her mother less so. "Are you sure?" she asked worriedly when the Doctor made his suggestion, "You don't think she's too young?"

"Why would she be too young?" her husband asked, before adding "Don't worry Ro, Emily will be fine! She's a fast learner, aren't you sweetheart?"

"Yeah!"

Romana reluctantly agreed to let Emily swim, so long as she wore armbands. "Oh, definitely; you help her into them, the Corsair and I will blow up some inflatable toys, and Flavia, you can…um...set up the pool chairs?" the Doctor suggested awkwardly. Flavia raised an eyebrow. "Nice to know I can contribute" she remarked, deadpan.

So whilst her father and godparents got the pool ready for some splashing fun, Emily put on her favourite pink flowery cozzie. Once Romana had changed into her own turquoise swimming costume, she set about getting Emily ready for swimming. "Okay, let's…hmm, these don't seem like they're inflated enough, hang on..." she blew into the nozzle and inflated the armbands a bit more. "Arms out…okay, you'd better wear four of these, just to be safe – oh, and one of these too"-

"Mummy, I don't"-

"Shh, baby. I know what I'm doing. Arms up…and there! Now you definitely won't sink" Romana smiled, taking a rather disgruntled Emily's hand and leading out of the changing room. The Doctor looked over when they emerged, smiling excitedly, but it soon faded when he saw that Romana had gone just slightly overboard. Emily was wearing four well inflated armbands and a rubber ring around her middle… "I think just two armbands would have been enough" he commented.

"Well, I think it's better to be safe than sorry" Romana replied, before adding to her daughter, "Wait here with daddy, sweetie".

"There's being safe and there's being paranoid" the Corsair remarked, "I don't know why you didn't just put a life jacket on her, complete with torch and whistle".

"I couldn't find one" Romana murmured, before hastily saying "I mean, I'm not being paranoid, Corsair. There's a difference between being paranoid and being cautious about my daughter's safety" she insisted, wading through the pool and unravelling a net behind her. "Good idea to play volleyball, Ro" the Doctor smiled. She shook her head and explained, "Oh no, this isn't for volleyball dear. It's to separate the shallow part of the pool from the deep part".

"But she's wearing armbands, Romana, she won't sink in the shallow or the deep end" Flavia pointed out, a bit confused. Romana didn't usually behave this…oddly.

"Wait, did you take two of her armbands off?" Romana asked her husband, who had indeed removed two of the cumbersome bands from Emily.

"Um, yes?"

"Well put them back on!"

"…But"-

"No buts, she needs them on!" Romana insisted stubbornly. The others glanced at one another, not sure what was going on…Emily simply huffed and grumbled "Mummy, why are you being so weird?"

The Corsair snorted in amusement and quickly covered it up with a cough when Romana glared at him. "Sorry…but seriously, that line between caution and paranoia? You've kind of crossed it, big time".

"What the Corsair is _trying _to say is that we're a bit worried about you" Flavia explained, "You don't normally act this way" she pointed out, looking concerned. Romana sighed and ran a hand over her face, before wading back to the edge of the pool and climbing out. She walked around and sat on the edge with Emily, putting an arm around her daughter.

"Mummy's sorry for being so weird" she murmured, "It's just…when I was first learning to swim, I sank. A lot, actually… It was a long time before I wanted to try swimming again…besides, I've never done this before, being a mum. I'm still learning, and sometimes I get a bit too worried about your safety. It's only because I love you so much, darling" Romana told Emily, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Emily hugged her back and replied "I love you too, mummy…but I don't wanna wear four armbands".

Romana laughed softly and stroked her hair. "That's fair enough" she nodded, before looking sheepishly at her husband sitting on her other side. "I was being pretty silly, wasn't I?"

"Yes" he nodded immediately, "I mean, no. I mean…I get it, I do. Parenting is hard, but _you _are doing a wonderful job. So…are you ready to teach your little girl how to swim?"

"Me?"

"You're a brilliant swimmer, Romana. If anyone can teach Emily to swim well, it's you" the Doctor told her with certainty, leaning in to give her a kiss. They ignored the small "Ick" sound coming from Emily, but broke apart at the sound of a splash. The Corsair surfaced and cocked an eyebrow at them. "What? Are we getting in this pool or aren't we?"

Romana looked down at Emily, who smiled up at her hopefully, and smiled in return. "Yes, we are" she decided, sliding into the water and lifting Emily off the edge. Then Romana waded out a little, until the water was up to her chest, and the rubber ring around Emily's middle had floated up to under her arms. "Okay" she took a deep breath, "I'm going to let the ring and the armbands keep you afloat, but I'll be right here to stop you sinking". It sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself more than Emily.

Very carefully, she moved aside and let go of Emily, watching carefully for any sign of the little girl sinking more than a few centimetres. Emily bobbed a bit, but the rubber ring and armbands did their job and kept her afloat. Romana breathed a sigh of relief as her daughter beamed, kicking her little legs and clawing at the water in front of her. "Look, I'm swimming!" she crowed as she moved forward a few inches, doing more splashing than actual swimming, but she was having too much fun to care. "I'm swimming!"

/

Part Three: Baking

"How come I have to stay here?" Emily groaned, lying upside down on the chair in the console room, the one with the seatbelt she was supposed to wear if the TARDIS began shaking a lot. The Corsair looked over at her and remarked, "You'll make yourself dizzy doing that; not to mention it'll hurt your neck".

"It don't hurt" Emily ungrammatically declared, before giggling a bit. "You look funny upside down".

"Glad I amuse you" he smirked, "as for why you've gotta stay here, your parents and Flavia are trying to help negotiate a peace treaty. I'm not allowed to come because I'm 'too trigger happy', apparently, so I'm looking after you instead. Capiche?" he asked. Emily just stared at him, confused, and he shook his head, "Never mind".

Emily shifted, trying to get off the chair…she sort of rolled off, stood up and rubbed her stomach, pouting, "I feel funny…"

"I did warn you…okay look, just close your eyes for a bit, it'll pass" he assured her. Emily closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, waiting till her tummy settled. Then she opened her eyes and walked up to the Corsair. "What're we gonna do?"

He was about to ask her the same question, but then a thought occurred to him. "How about we do some baking?"

"Baking?"

"Yes, baking. How do you think those cupcakes you like so much are made? Magic?"

"Yes"

"…Right, okay. Well, you can help me make some if you like. I'm pretty sure baking is something little girls like you do all the time" the Corsair reasoned. Emily thought about it and decided that baking sounded like a lot of fun. "Okay! Let's go baking!" she said cheerfully, running for the kitchen. The Corsair followed her, and took down a cookbook from the shelf. "Okay, then. What do you want to bake?" he asked, giving her the book to flip through.

The little girl skipped over a bunch of baked goodies, and stabbed her finger on a picture in the book. "I wanna make those!" she declared, pointing at a picture of chocolate flavoured cupcakes. The Corsair quickly scanned the ingredients, ran through his memory of whether they had enough of everything, and nodded. "Sure, we can make those. We just need to get all of this stuff and measure it out first" he explained, running his finger down the list of ingredients.

Emily squinted at the small print, and saw that one of the ingredients was 'unsalted butter'. "I know where that is!" she smiled, climbing down from the chair and hurrying over to the fridge. She pulled out a tub of butter and went to place it on the table, but the Corsair said "Oh, wrong butter; see if you can find a small cuboid of butter, wrapped up, should be on the…second shelf at the back, I think" he explained. Emily put the spreadable butter down and peered in the fridge for the block of butter.

It took kneeling on a chair to reach the butter, but she managed it, and the Corsair retrieved most of the other ingredients himself. He set up a measuring bowl and let her measure out the flour and then the sugar, whilst he boiled a bit of water. Emily decided the flour would come out much faster if she simply upended the bag; an avalanche of flour fell with a _whumph, _spraying snowy white over the table and over Emily.

The Corsair looked round and couldn't help but snigger a bit; Emily was peering cross-eyed at a dab of flour on her nose, and she looked hilariously adorable. He reached out and gently wiped the flour off, grinning at her…she smiled back nervously and said "…Oops?"

"Heh, no harm done…well, you've put more flour in than we need, but never mind. You can just spoon it back in the bag again" the Corsair reasoned, handing Emily a soup spoon. She pouted and asked, "All of it?"

"No, not all of it, silly; just enough so that this needle here goes down to this little mark, like I showed you before, remember?"

"How come we can't put more flour in? Then we can have more cupcakes!"

"Aww, Emz, normally I wouldn't say no to more snacks, but we've only got the one cupcake tray and it only has sixteen spaces, I'm afraid" he pointed out, ruffling her hair and saying "Besides, knowing you, you'll eat at least three before dinner. There doesn't need to be many more" he chuckled. Emily frowned and shook her head vigorously. "Nuh-uh! I won't three before dinner – I'm gonna eat three _after _dinner!" she decided. The Corsair didn't bother pointing out that if she did that, she'd use up all her cupcakes…he was sure she'd figure it out eventually. That, or Romana would tell her.

The flour on the table was soon joined by spilt milk and cracked eggshells; the lumpy brown mixture in the bowl was mixed between them into a thick paste. Whilst Emily amused herself licking the spoon, the Corsair carefully decanted the mixture into twelve cases, and put them in the already heated oven. After that, they set about making the icing; the Corsair gave Emily four different colourings to pick from, and did some clearing up whilst she was mixing together the water and the powder into a paste.

He looked over from the sink when he heard Emily groan, her head down on the table. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, and she mumbled something that sounded like, "It went wrong!"

The Corsair came over to look in the bowl. It was full of a very dark brown, almost black, icing…he frowned in confusion. "It looks fine to me…" he looked at the bottles of food colouring, red, yellow, blue and green, and realised, "You put a bit of all four colours in, didn't you?"

Emily lifted her head and pouted at the bowl of icing. "I was trying to make a rainbow" she admitted through pooched lips. The Corsair chuckled and explained, "Mixing colours doesn't work that way, kiddo…but hey, don't feel too bad. You've made chocolate coloured icing, and we're having chocolate cupcakes, so it fits really, doesn't it? Tell you what; we'll add in a bit of cocoa powder so it tastes like chocolate as well" he suggested, pouring some in and letting Emily mix it up.

The Doctor, Romana and Flavia returned sometime later from a round of difficult negotiations…the fact that it had been attacked and they'd had to thwart an attempted bombing hadn't helped matters. They'd managed to bring together the two sides in a fight for everyone's life, which convinced the leaders to sign the treaty allying their two planets, having realised that despite their many disagreements both sides had skills and resources of value to the other.

All three of them were a bit tired, and rather stressed; so it was certainly a pleasant surprise to have Emily run up to them, beaming and holding something up. "Mummy, daddy, Flavia! The Corsair and I did baking!" she exclaimed happily, showing them the chocolate cupcakes in her hands. "Oh, they look delicious, darling" Romana smiled. They all gathered around and picked up a cupcake each, unwrapping them from the paper.

"So how does it taste, Emz?" the Corsair asked. Emily looked up, her mouth full of cupcake. "I' guh!" she replied, spraying crumbs everywhere. The adults bit into theirs, and smiled in satisfaction; the cupcakes _were _good.

/

Part Four – Gardening

Flavia whistled to herself as she knelt on the grass, digging in the soil with a trowel. The TARDIS was simply floating aimlessly in space, and the Time Quintet were amusing themselves for the day. The Doctor and Romana were…well, she probably didn't want to know…the Corsair was keeping an eye on Emily, and she had decided to do a little bit of gardening. Right now she was planting some lovely peonies, in shades of pink and light purple.

"What'cha doing?"

She jumped at the high, inquisitive voice behind her and looked over her shoulder. Emily was standing there, head tilted to the side slightly. "Oh, Emily, you startled me; what brings you here? Where's the Corsair?"

"We were playing cards, but then Uncle Jack called and he needed help, and the Corsair told me to find you cos mummy and daddy are busy…why are they busy? He didn't tell me" Emily explained. Flavia hoped she didn't notice the slight blush on her godmother's cheeks, and replied, "Oh, they're just…doing grown up things. Doesn't the Corsair need any help?"

Emily shook her head. "He said he can manage. It's just some…some Weevils, I think".

Flavia tried not to wince; she'd heard from Captain Jack how nasty those little sewer dwelling terrors were, and for a moment she worried for the Corsair…_Oh well, if he wants to go diving headfirst into danger, who am I to stop him? It'll give me a chance to spend time with Emily _she decided, before smiling at her goddaughter and explaining, "I was just about to plant these peonies". She nodded at the flowers in pots, some still in green buds with little pink petals poking out.

"Ooh, pretty!"

"They are, aren't they? They smell nice too" Flavia told her. Emily crouched down and picked a pot up, burying her nose in the flower. A bit of pollen got up her nose, making her sneeze; she wiped it on her sleeve before Flavia could offer her a tissue, and put the pot down, looking puzzled at the dirt on her fingertips. "But…soil is messy!" she declared, "The Corsair says you hate mess!"

"Hate is a bit of a strong word…I don't usually like mess, but well, a garden is supposed to be messy, you see? If there was soil all over my bedroom or bathroom, or the kitchen, then I'd be cross because the soil would be in the wrong place" Flavia clarified. Emily didn't quite understand why something being in the wrong place would make somebody cross – her toys ended up in the wrong place all the time and she didn't get cross. Maybe it was a grown up thing.

"Would you like to help me plant them?" Flavia asked Emily, who nodded eagerly. So the Time Lady shifted to one side, and showed Emily how to get the flower out of the pot, set it in the hole, and fill the soil in around it and pat it down. "It's easy, see? Why don't you have a go".

Emily set to it with her usual gusto, turning a pot upside down and shaking it to get the flower to fall out. "Careful" Flavia warned, "Get it out gently, dear, it's very fragile". Emily nodded and tugged on the stem a bit, trying to loosen it – instead, it snapped off in her fingers. She pouted, almost on the verge of tears; she'd killed the poor flower!

"Oh dear; never mind, there's plenty more" Flavia comforted her - _Although I hope not too many of them break_ she thought to herself. "Here, why don't I pull the plastic away from the soil and you dig it out with your fingers" she suggested, making a mental note to make sure Emily washed her hands _very _thoroughly after this.

With a bit of teamwork, they managed to get the flower out of the pot. "Good girl; now what you do is, you hold the flower over this hole and crumble up the soil a bit, so it isn't so hard" Flavia instructed. Emily squeezed the root ball, and clumps of soil tumbled down into the hole. When the roots started poking from between her fingers, Flavia asked her to carefully put the plant in the middle of the hole, and push all the soil and compost in around it.

When the peony was firmly embedded in the ground, Flavia picked up a watering can. "Now we just pour a little bit of water over it and give it a drink, just like this" she said, demonstrating, "You can water all the ones we plant next" she promised Emily.

Of the twenty little peonies she had planned to plant, only sixteen survived Emily's eager but clumsy four year old fingers. Still, it was nice; Flavia didn't usually have company on her garden excursions, and normally she didn't mind the peace and quiet, but Emily was just too adorable and curious and cheerful for her to want the little girl to leave.

"How do plants eat?" Emily asked her as they dug weeds out of the soil, her using the sharp fork and Emily tossing the weeds, roots and all, in a bucket.

"Well, they don't really 'eat' like you and me" Flavia chuckled, "Plants use something called 'photosynthesis'. The sun shines on them, and they have special cells in their leaves which absorb the energy from the sunlight. Their leaves also absorb carbon dioxide – that's the gas we all breathe out – and their roots soak up water from the ground. They mix the sunlight, the gas and the water together and use it to feed themselves, and they send out oxygen – the gas we need to breathe. That's why plants are so important for planets, you see, without them none of us would be here".

Emily's eyes widened as she looked at all the plants. "Wow…thank you, plants!" she beamed, but then something else occurred to her, "But there isn't sunshine in the TARDIS, the sunshine is outside!"

"Well actually, all this light coming down – no, don't look, you'll hurt your eyes" Flavia said hurriedly as Emily looked up at the ceiling, only to blink and rub her eyes. "This _is _sunlight, dear. The sun is just a star, and the TARDIS can bring the starlight in here" she revealed. It was a pretty simple process, much like photosynthesis, but seeing the wonder in Emily's face at learning something new…it made her hearts warm.

Suddenly, or so it seemed to Flavia, Emily was hugging her around the middle. "Thank you for showing me how to garden" she smiled up at her godmother, "I had lots of fun!"

Flavia blinked in surprise, and then smiled and hugged her back. "You're very welcome, dear. I had fun too".

/

I hope you guys liked this little four part instalment; it was longer than I thought it would be, but I got it finished in the end!

Now, I know this story isn't updated very regularly, and I'm afraid that's not changing, but I've set myself a target for the next chapter. I plan to upload it on the 26th of August, and it will be a very special chapter…to honour the two year anniversary of another story of mine, 'Beautiful in Blue', I'm going to do a crossover!

Read, review, follow or favourite (or better yet, do all four), and vworp on!


	16. Chapter 16 Half-Sister Hope

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Here it is folks! A crossover between my two series 'The Doctor's Wife AU' and 'TARDIS Blue Hearts', in particular, the stories 'How to Raise a Time Tot' and 'Hope's First'.

This chapter is set in a time period before the Cyber War and the Time Quintet don't know at the time it is going to be overrun by Cybermen and destroyed. Just so you know.

Also, this series has fan-art! Delta General-42 has a version of the Corsair's sonic screwdriver on their DeviantArt page. Check it out ;)

Half-Sister Hope

It was a bright, scorching day at Hedgewick's World of Wonders. Crowds of people milled about the massive theme park, shouts of terrified glee rose up from the rollercoasters, squeals of delight echoed around the water park and the beach. In the midst of this maelstrom of excitement, nobody noticed an incongruous blue box appear out of nowhere.

The Time Quintet stepped out of the TARDIS, dressed for the hot weather with sunglasses and hats. Emily was wearing a pink t-shirt decorated with flowers, and a pair of darker pink shorts, and white Crocs. Her mother wore a knee length light blue skirt, and a turquoise short sleeved blouse with sandals. Flavia wore a similar outfit in shades of yellow and brown, her hair tied back in a plait. The Corsair wore brown canvas shorts and a white t-shirt. The Doctor, from pure force of habit, wasn't wearing shorts but he had left his jacket behind in the TARDIS.

"Ooh! Where are we? Where are we gonna go first? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do first?!" Emily asked enthusiastically, bouncing up and down. Romana smiled in amusement and led her over to a large map of the park, with a 'You Are Here' sign stuck on it. Emily looked the map over and pointed to random attractions, rambling "Let's go on the Big Wheel! Ooh, or the Spacey Zoomer Ride, or the Cauldron, or the lake, or"- Emily gasped and exclaimed, "Beach! They've got a beach here, and it's right next to the water park! Mummy let's go to the water park and the beach!"

"She takes after you" the Doctor remarked, wrapping his arms around Romana's waist from behind her, "Loving the water".

"So I've gathered" Romana chuckled, before looking at Emily and reminding the excitable little girl, "The water park is over on the other side; are you ready for a _long _walk?" she asked, drawing out the 'long'. Emily giggled and jumped up and down again, exclaiming, "Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

After checking that they had everything (sun cream, bottles of juice, swimming costumes to change into when they arrived…) the family of five set off. The Doctor and Romana walked with Emily holding onto their hands, swinging her between them until their arms got tired. It wasn't long, really, before Emily's shorter legs also started to tire; at that point, the Corsair scooped her up and set her on his shoulders. In return she regaled him with a running commentary of how funny the aliens around them looked, which had him struggling not to bust his gut laughing.

By the time they reached the water park, Emily's energy was flagging somewhat; she perked up when they arrived, squirming to be let down from the Corsair's shoulders and practically dragging her mum into a changing cubicle. The water park was huge, with wave pools, log flume rides, 'spray-grounds' and splash pads, and every kind of water slide one could picture.

"Okay, what do you want to go on first?" Romana inquired. Emily looked around with eyes as wide as saucers, and an even wider grin. "The log ride! Ooh, that big bowl thing-y! The helter-skelter! I wanna go on everything!" she crowed happily, turning in a circle and trying to see every attraction she could.

"Well how about this" Flavia suggested, "Let's move in a zig-zag and have a go in every attraction". The others were agreeable to this idea, especially Emily, since it meant having more fun on more rides. The nearest attraction to the gate was 'Wild White-Water', which swept riders along a series of miniature 'rapids' and sent them sliding down a speed slide 'waterfall' into a plunge pool.

"Three people per raft, folks" the ride operator, a light purple cephalopod-like alien reminded the queuing people, as if the large sign wasn't enough. One of his four arm tentacles was taking money, and the other three were handing out passes to the riders. The Doctor smiled at him cheerfully and gestured to Romana and Emily. "One child and two adults, please".

"That'll be twenty five credits, thanks" the operator replied. The Doctor flashed his psychic paper over the machine and it beeped, fooled into thinking he'd scanned a credit card. "Say, didn't you come on this ride earlier?" the operator asked him; he blinked in confusion. The operator slid one of his eyes to Emily and shrugged, "Must be a coincidence. Okay, here are your passes, go on through" he said, waving them on through the turnstile.

"What do you think that was about?" Romana wondered as they walked to the ride proper, her holding Emily's hand so the little girl didn't run off and hurt herself trying to climb into the rubber dinghy.

"No idea; he must've seen someone who looks like me a bit, like a doppelgänger".

"Perhaps it was you he saw" Romana mused, "An earlier or later version; it wouldn't surprise me to find that you'd managed to land on the same day as, well, you. It's been known to happen" she remarked casually, unable to stop a smile of amusement tugging at her lips.

"Okay, first of all, I'm not _that _bad at piloting the TARDIS - and besides, you know she has a mind of her own. Secondly, if I did – which I wouldn't – it would have to have been a younger version, because any older version would be with you and Emily, which is exactly where I ought to be" the Doctor replied, cupping her cheek and leaning in to give her a kiss. Emily stuck her tongue out and stamped her foot. "We gotta go on the ride!"

"Don't be so impatient, Emily" her mother chided, as they climbed into the raft. It was every bit as fun as it sounded, and of course Emily was eager to have another go. "Ah, ah; we said we'd go once on each ride, remember?" her father reminded her, trying very hard not to crumple and give in at the sight of her pout. As it was, he couldn't resist promising "But if you're good, we might come back for another go on…a few of the rides".

Emily immediately perked up at this, and agreed immediately. They went on several more rides, including one that imitated being sucked down a whirlpool and made Emily throw up, poor thing. As it neared mid-afternoon, and they'd covered about a quarter of the park (thank goodness for Time Lord stamina), they came to one of the several 'spray-grounds', with many pipes and buckets spraying and upending water onto and into an obstacle course of tunnels, ladders, bridges and slides.

Flavia and Romana took the opportunity to rest on a nearby bench, and the Corsair had seen a ride that Emily wasn't old enough for but looked pretty thrilling. So the Doctor had been pulled by the hand by his little girl; and he let her of course, because if he was being honest he found these places just as fun as she did. It was a playground with water jets and water slides, how cool was that?

"Daddy! Daddy let's play hide and seek!" Emily suggested brightly. The Doctor chuckled fondly and covered his eyes with his hands, starting to count down. "One hundred, ninety nine, ninety eight…" he peeked out and saw Emily watching him as suspiciously as a five year old could.

"Daddy, no peeking!"

"Sorry…where was I? Oh right, ninety seven, ninety six, ninety five…" he heard her giggle and run off to hide, and kept counting, unconcerned with how odd he might look.

Emily ran off and climbed up a ladder, taking care not to slip. She didn't worry about getting lost or hurt; she was a big girl now, she could take care of herself, and her daddy could find her easy-peasy if she got lost or hurt. She just hoped he wouldn't find her too easily in their game, because that would be no fun. After climbing around, she found a platform with some plastic tubes above it and crawled into one.

There was another little girl there, with light blue eyes and a mop of brown curls, dressed in a periwinkle blue swimming costume. "Hiya!" she smiled brightly, "My name's Hope. What's your name?"

"I'm Emily. Me and my daddy are playing hide and seek" Emily explained, and Hope's eyes went wide. "Really? Me and my daddy are playing hide and seek too! He always finds me though" she sighed.

"I always get found too" Emily said sympathetically. The two of them sat side by side, bare feet resting on the cool damp plastic. "Are you here on holiday?" Emily asked her new friend, trying to speak quietly so they wouldn't be found.

"Sort of…are you?"

"Sort of…"

"Do you live here? On this planet, I mean" Hope wondered. Emily shook her head and replied, "No…we just live all over the place, kind of".

"That's funny; my mummy and daddy and me do the same thing. Can I tell you a secret?"

"Yeah"

"I live in a time machine" Hope revealed in a conspiratorial stage-whisper.

Emily's eyes went round as saucers. "No way" she gasped.

"It's true!"

"But I live in a time machine too!"

"_Whoa. _Is…is your time machine a big blue box?"

"Yeah, it's called the TARDIS".

"So is ours! My daddy says he borrowed it, but my mummy says he stole it, and she should know".

"Heh, that's what my daddy says about our TARDIS ….wait a sec. If you live in a TARDIS, that means…you're a Time Tot like me!"

"Hey, yeah! I thought my mummy and daddy and me were the only three left in the _whole universe_".

"I thought my mummy and daddy and godparents and me were the only _five _left in the whole universe".

"There are _five_ of you?" Hope asked in amazement, her eyes wide and round as moons.

Emily nodded enthusiastically, and then gasped as she heard a creaking sound. "Shh! I think somebody's coming!" she hissed. They zipped their lips shut and covered their eyes with their hands, to no avail of course. A familiar voice from Emily's side of the tunnel exclaimed "Got y- what?!"

"What?!" the same voice exclaimed on Hope's side of the tunnel. They both looked up simultaneously to see their daddies, at _both _ends of the tunnel! Bewildered, the two little girls looked at their fathers, then at each other and squeaked "What?"

Hope's dad picked his jaw up off the floor and hesitantly asked "You're…?"

"You" his doppelgänger nodded, "Or vice versa. This is…"

"Extremely bizarre, not to mention"-

"Completely impossible" Emily's father finished off. Their daughters had been looking back and forth between them, and getting more and more confused. "I don't get it" Emily declared bluntly.

"Neither do I" her dad admitted, before beckoning her out of the tunnel. Hope climbed out of the other end, and the two girls stood on the platform between the duplicated Doctors. Emily's father was wearing a pair of blue and purple polka dotted shorts, and Hope's father was wearing a pair of pinstriped red and yellow shorts. "Daddy, why are there two of you?" Hope questioned curiously.

"I don't know, darling" the red Doctor answered honestly, before glancing up and noticing his counterpart's surprised expression. "What?"

"Sorry, it's just…you have a daughter too?"

"Yeah…oh, right, introductions! Um, other Doctor, meet Hope. Hope, this is, err, other me. Exactly what kind of other me remains to be seen".

"Hi" Hope greeted with a small wave and a smile. The blue Doctor smiled back, thinking _she's adorable; not as adorable as my Emily, of course. Speaking of which, _"Hello Hope. I see you've met my daughter, Emily".

"Yeah, she's really nice!"

"Thanks!"

The blue Doctor looked up at his double and inquired "You don't recognise Emily?"

"No, should I?" the red Doctor inquired, before snapping his fingers and adding "Ah! You thought I might be an older version of you; even though I'd never go to the same place twice".

"Of course, silly of me"

"Maybe your deductive skills need honing" the red Doctor smirked teasingly.

"I don't see you coming up with any possible theories" the blue Doctor countered.

"Here's one, we've crossed time-streams. The same Doctor from two slightly different dimensions".

"It'd have to be more than a slight difference to account for you having a different daughter".

"Does that bother you?"

"No, no, no, no. Although…did you go on the White Water Rapids ride earlier?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The ticket vendor asked if I'd been on there before; and now I know why".

"Yes, you do"

"You know, I can't tell if you two are arguing or flirting with each other" a familiar voice remarked in dry amusement. Emily looked up and waved enthusiastically at her godfather, who was leaning over the railing of the platform above them.

"Hi, Corsair!"

"Hey, Emz" he grinned down at her, "Who's your new friend?"

"This is Hope; she's like me from another dimension. Hope, this is my godfather, the Corsair".

"Nice to meet you" Hope smiled and waved up at the older Time Lord.

"Please to make your acquaintance" he replied, tipping an invisible cap to her. He glanced up at her father, the duplicate of the Doctor, and noticed the man staring at him. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "You alright, mate?"

The red Doctor blinked and shook his head. "No, no, no, I just…wasn't expecting this" he explained awkwardly, before adding, "And for the record, we were _not _flirting".

The Corsair realised straight away that this other Doctor must be from a timeline where he, Romana and Flavia had died in the war or on House. "Wait till you meet the others" he commented with a knowing smirk.

"Others? There are more of you?"

"There's five of them, daddy" Hope said matter-of-factly, "Emily, her daddy, him" she pointed up at the Corsair, "Uh…"

"My mummy, and Flavia" Emily finished for her, "Ooh, we could have lunch together!"

"Yeah, then you can meet my mummy. Her name is Anna and she's really nice".

"My mummy's name is Romana" Emily revealed; the red Doctor's eyes widened in surprise. "You…you married Rom-pfft!"- He spluttered and coughed as a bucket of water spilled itself all over him, causing Hope and Emily to double over in uproarious laughter. His duplicate and the Corsair weren't exactly managing to keep straight faces either. "Come on" the blue Doctor said between sniggers, "Let's go meet and greet".

/

The Time Quintet and Hope's family reconvened in a fast food restaurant. It was busy, and they could only get a table for six, so Emily and Hope sat on their mother's laps and shared a plate of chicken (at least, it resembled chicken) and chips between them. The adults had ordered lunch as well, but none of them had their minds on food right now. "Well" the blue Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly, "This is…"

"Weird?" the Corsair suggested, before adding "Oh who are we kidding, by our standards this is normal. It's not weird, it's just sad".

Emily looked up from her strawberry milkshake and asked, "Why is it making you sad?"

"Wrong type of 'sad', kiddo" he chuckled, reaching over to ruffle her hair, "You'll understand when you're older".

"I think we can all agree that there is only one plausible explanation for this" Flavia commented, and then elucidated, "And that is that our time streams have crossed – more specifically, the Doctor's time stream".

"That's what I said" the red Doctor pouted a bit; his wife, a lovely young Anglo-Asian woman named Anna, patted his arm sympathetically.

"So, what now?" the Corsair asked, after swallowing most of his mouthful of burger. Flavia shot him a disapproving stare, which he ignored, and then she replied "Well, for one thing, we need to decide how to tell the difference between the Doctor's".

"Oh, that's easy" the blue Doctor said immediately, "I'll be Doctor A, and he can"-

"Whoa, wait, hang on; how come you get to be A? I should be A".

"Why?"

The red Doctor smirked, "I was here first".

Of course his counterpart tried to reply straight away, but was cut off by the Corsair remarking "You probably shouldn't be flirting like that in front of your wives".

"_We're not flirting_!" they both protested in unison. The Corsair burst out laughing, which sent Emily and Hope into a giggling fit as well, and pretty soon they were all chuckling. When things had calmed down, Anna turned to the red Doctor and suggested "Why don't you just go by 'John Smith' for the time being?"

He gave an exaggerated sigh and answered, "Okay, if I must", before giving her a peck on the lips. The blue Doctor averted his eyes and smiled at Romana, putting an arm around her shoulders. Anna smiled at the others, and politely inquired "So, how did the four of you meet?"

As innocuous a question as it was, it brought unpleasant memories to the surface, and they all looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Well…we all knew the Doc from before…y'know" the Corsair began, ignoring his co-pilot's irritated mutter of "Don't call me 'Doc'".

"Yes, although technically, only you and Romana were his friends" Flavia pointed out, "I was an acquaintance at best…but near the end of the war, Romana came to me asking for my help bypassing the security field around the non-combat TARDISes. She'd been asking everyone she could think of…who was still alive…to come and help her pilot a Type 90 TARDIS off of Gallifrey. By then even I had realised that we were doomed so, I agreed and we managed to escape Gallifrey, only to be sucked through a gap in space-time and end up in the most dreadful place".

"House" Anna guessed correctly, and Flavia nodded, grimacing. To this day she couldn't stand spiders, there'd been hundreds of the disgusting little things around, and if there was an option to not go into a dark, dank sewer or a cave or anything of that sort, she'd take it.

Romana continued the explanation. "The Corsair crash landed there as well…we survived long enough for the Doctor to rescue us, escaped and went travelling with him. There wasn't really anywhere else for us to go…about four months later, I realised I was, well, falling in love" she smiled tenderly at her Doctor, and he smiled back, stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers.

The Corsair proceeded to interrupt their moment by casually observing "Then it took her another four months to actually mention it to him…and it took them both over two hundred years to get around to actually getting hitched".

Romana gave him a mock glower and replied, "Well, he was well worth the wait. Wouldn't you agree, Anna?" she smiled at her trans-dimensional alternative.

"Oh, definitely" Anna nodded, "We've known each other for centuries, him and I, but we only became a couple rather recently, relatively speaking".

"How did the two of you meet?" Flavia asked curiously. John and Anna hesitated, looked at one another slightly awkwardly. "Uh, we met on Gallifrey actually. It's rather a long story…"

"Mummy's a TARDIS" Hope interjected in an attempt to be helpful, "…What?"

Anna blushed. "Ah heh, kids, they say the oddest…" she sighed and said, "Oh, I might as well tell you. I don't usually talk about my origins…not many people understand it, even the ones who know about aliens. When the Doctor rescued you all from House, did anything else happen? Anything involving his TARDIS…?"

"Yeah, House placed the Matrix in the body of a human woman called…wait, you're Idris?" the Doctor asked in surprise. Anna nodded and explained, "I regenerated into this form, but yes, I did use to resemble Idris. The details are complicated – not that you wouldn't understand, but it would take too long to go over them all; suffice it to say, I combined human DNA, some of the Doctor's Time Lord DNA, and TARDIS coral DNA into one form.

"However, my calculations were…a bit skewed. Even eleventh dimensional beings make mistakes, especially when they're trying to place part of their consciousness into a four dimensional being. Not all of the human and Time Lord DNA could be reconfigured with the coral DNA; instead, without me even realising, they combined themselves into…well, into this little miracle here" Anna smiled fondly down at her daughter, kissing the top of her head.

"Wait, hang on, let me get this straight" said the Corsair, "You were his TARDIS, you made a humanoid body out of three different kinds of DNA, and you accidently impregnated yourself?"

"Pretty much" Anna nodded.

"Wow" he said bluntly, "Probably shouldn't think about that too much. So, if they're both the Doctor, and they married different people, and they're these two tykes biological fathers…does that make Emily and Hope related? I mean, wouldn't they be like, half-sisters or something?"

"Yeah!" beamed Emily, "Mummy, Hope can be my sister, can't she?"

"Please can we be sisters? I've never had a sister from another dimension before!"

"I'd imagine most people haven't, dear" Anna chuckled, "Of course you can be sisters, if you want to be".

"I certainly don't see a problem with it" Romana added.

" _Yay_!" both girls cried in unison, making several people glare in the general direction of their table.

"Volume control, darling" Romana winced. "Now, let's all finish lunch and then…are you okay, dear?" she asked Emily, who was squirming uncomfortably; Hope was fidgeting as well.

"Um…I need the loo".

/

A/N: Most awkward 'cliffhanger' ever, LOL. Looks like this is going to be another multi-parter, but I've got no idea just yet what the rest is meant to be like. I'll figure it out eventually though!

Thanks for sticking with me, guys, it means a lot :) Roll on September 19th! Vworp on!


	17. Chapter 17 - Half-Sister Hope Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Half-Sister Hope – Part Two

Some of the day, as far as Hope and Emily were concerned, had been wasted. They were determined to not waste any more of it, and insisted on exploring more of the amusement park. "I don't wanna play in the water park anymore" Emily decided, "I wanna go on some cool rides!"

"Yeah, and win prizes playing games" Hope added eagerly.

"Eat lots of candyfloss and ice cream" Emily smiled, licking her lips. Romana quirked an eyebrow and admonished "Not too much of that, young lady. Do you want to have bad teeth?"

Emily sighed, "No mummy…" then she quickly perked up again and inquired, "So can we go and have fun now?"

"Well, that is what we came here to do, isn't it?" Romana replied with an amused smile; the Doctor smiled and added "Yes, fun, fun is definitely the main initiative but also, there's probably a Tunnel of Love somewhere in this park" he said casually, stretching his arm and draping it over Romana's shoulders. She gave him a fond smile and murmured, "I'd love to go on a romantic ride with you…but you do know you could have asked me telepathically?"

"Uh, yes…why?"

"Oh, no reason Doctor" the Corsair interrupted with a smirk, "It's just awfully _cute_ when you exclaim your undying love for Romana for all to hear. _Oh Romana, I love you so much, let's ride the Tunnel of Love and kiss a lot! Mwah, mwah, mwah!" _he mocked, pretending to kiss a yellow balloon hanging from a nearby display. Emily and Hope squealed with laughter, almost rolling on the floor. To be fair, almost everyone but the Doctor was sniggering as well, even Flavia.

The Doctor frowned and muttered "I don't sound like that…" then he cleared his throat and said in his duplicate's direction, "Well it was nice to meet you, very interesting, but we should all be getting on so perhaps we'll see you around" he finished with a rather forced smile. John returned the same fake smile and answered "Oh, yeah, we'll probably see you around the park. Maybe not since, you know, it's a big place". He also wrapped an arm around Anna's shoulders, ever so subtly tugging her a bit closer to him.

A small, dismayed voice piped up. "Aww, but we were gonna have fun together!" Emily pouted; Hope soon followed suit, both of them fixing their parents with the biggest puppy dog eyes they could manage.

"Oh, let's go around the park together" Anna suggested, "Hope deserves a chance to get to know her new half-sister; and I'd rather like the chance to get to know Romana".

On hearing her name, Romana smiled and added "I'd like to get to know you, too. Oh come on, Doctor, what's the harm?" she asked her husband. He looked between her and Emily, who was still pouting for all she was worth, and sighed. "Okay, fine. We'll explore the park together" he relented, and both young girls cheered excitedly.

/

It would be impossible to traverse the entire park in a day, but the two little Time Tots were determined to cover as much ground as possible. They were also setting their sights…a little too high. "Ooh! Let's go on _that _one!" Emily suggested with an eager grin, pointing at a very high and twisty rollercoaster that pretty much started with a free fall drop. A car dropped over the edge and the riders screamed, though the sound was lost in all the hustle of the park.

"Emily, that ride probably has a height limit" Romana told her, "You and Hope might not be able to ride on the large rollercoasters".

"But that's not fair!" Emily whined, "The kiddie rides are _boring_!"

"I'm with her on that" the Corsair interjected, adding "Come on Romana, what's the harm? The worst a ride like that will do is, y'know, make them throw up" he shrugged. Flavia rolled her eyes and explained with a tone of exasperation, "I'm sure that having their daughters become sick is precisely what Romana and Anna are trying to _avoid, _Corsair".

"Exactly, thank you" Anna nodded politely, before turning to Hope. "Darling, even if the ride _didn't _have a height limit – which I imagine it does – I wouldn't want you going on it. You've just eaten, you'll be sick and then you'll have a tummy ache for the rest of the day. You don't want that, do you?"

"Um, no…but won't all the rides make us feel a bit sick?"

"Ah….well, I'm sure we'll find a ride that doesn't make you both lose your lunch" Anna reassured her daughter.

"Sure you will" the Corsair said confidently, "…Of course, there's nothing to stop _me _going on that rollercoaster, so if you'll excuse me…"

"You're leaving? Corsair, this is supposed to be a family outing" Flavia reminded him with disapproval.

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and protested, "Hey, you know me. I'm a lone wolf…mostly. Besides, there isn't a rule that says you have to spend all the time on a family outing _together_. Oh, and don't say that it's an 'unwritten rule'; that just means you made it up. I can ride on whatever rollercoaster I want to, capiche?"

"But…but why do you wanna leave?" Emily asked in bewilderment, with a pout that could melt hearts of stone. The Corsair took one look at her and clutched at his chest. "Ow, my hearts...aww, don't be like that, Emz", he ruffled her hair and said, "You'll have plenty of fun without me around".

"No, we won't! You're the most fun-est person ever!"

"Oi, hey, what about me? Aren't I fun?" the Doctor asked, mock-offended.

The Corsair smirked and declared, "Not fun enough, apparently. Oh…alright, I guess I can stick around for a little bit longer" he conceded, patting Emily on the head as she hugged his knees, "The things I do for you".

Anna whispered something to Romana; she cleared her throat and pointed out, "Corsair, we really do appreciate you trying to make the girls happy…it's just, we have a time machine".

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And…?"

"So you could always travel to a later date and go on as many rollercoasters as you wanted" Anna explained, as if it were obvious.

The Corsair's eyes widened with dawning comprehension…and then he face-palmed. "I am such an idiot…Emily, Hope, I will be right back, _and _I'll bring you both presents. Okay?" he gave them all a thumbs up, and walked away quickly before they could protest. John called after him, "How do you know you won't overshoot?"

"Cos I'm a better pilot than you are!"

"Oi, I'm not him!" John called back, pointing at his duplicate, "I'm the more handsome one!"

"What? We look _identical_" the Doctor scoffed, "Although apparently, one of us is more intelligent".

"Oh, that's nice of you. Thank you for the compliment" John smirked. Before the Doctor could retort, both their wives stepped between them.

"You'd better not be starting an argument in front of our daughter and her new friend, John" Anna warned her husband, with a disapproving raised eyebrow. Any protests he could have made died on his lips, and all he could do was look apologetic.

His counterpart wasn't faring much better, seeing as he was also on the receiving end of his wife's criticising stare. "Doctor, is something the matter?" she inquired, "You've both been acting strangely hostile towards one another. You weren't nearly so bothered about interacting with your Ganger, so what's different about this?"

The Doctor hedged, and fidgeted the way Emily did when she was in trouble. "Um, well, uh...It's nothing. It's not important" he claimed, taking hold of her hands. "If it makes you happy, I won't keep arguing with him, I promise".

Well, that's good. I'm glad you've come to your senses" she smiled at him.

"Yes, I did, thanks to you. My wonderful wife" he smiled as well, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

John gave his own wife an apologetic smile, and said "I'm sorry, dear. I uh, don't know what came over me. Thank you for snapping me out of it; you're incredible" he told her, giving her two quick kisses.

Emily sighed and reached up to tug on her godmother's skirt. "Flavia, why do mummies and daddies have to be icky all the time?"

Flavia chuckled in spite of herself and explained, "It's because they're in love, dear".

"I hope I don't ever get in love" Emily pulled a face, sticking her tongue out, "It sounds _gross_".

The adults did their best not to laugh out loud at this remark. "Nope, no kissing for you" her dad agreed, scooping her up and placing her on his shoulders, "Not for a long, long, _long _time".

"And no kissing for you either, missy" John told Hope, putting her on his shoulders, "Now which way d'you girls wanna go?"

Emily pointed to the right, Hope pointed to the left, and both announced "That way!"

Then they changed their minds, and pointed in the opposite direction, "Um, that way?"

"How about straight ahead?" suggested Anna, smiling in amusement. Hope clapped her hands in excitement; Emily beamed as well, but then wondered aloud "What about the Corsair?"

"Don't worry about him, he'll catch up" her father assured her, and so they headed off into the park. There were plenty of rides and attractions for small children to enjoy…even if Hope and Emily did grumble a bit about being treated like babies. The two of them got along like a house on fire, chattering away and figuring out what they had in common…apart from the obvious.

As they stood in line for a smaller rollercoaster, one that didn't appear intended to invert one's stomach, Hope told Emily all about her friends on Earth. "Ant is my best friend…well, except for when he's being a dumb boy. Which is a lot…but he's lots of fun to play with, we do this game where I chase him, or he chases me – it's like tag, but one of us is an alien, like a Cyberman or a Slitheen or something".

"Why is he called 'Ant'? How'd you know him?"

"Uh, it's short for Anthony; I always call him Ant though. Um, I know him cos, cos our mummy and daddies know each other" Hope explained, before tilting her head curiously and asking "Doesn't your daddy have friends called Amy and Rory?"

"He did, but he said that they were sent back in time before I was born" Emily elucidated.

John looked over his shoulder at his counterpart and questioned, "They were sent back in time? Why didn't you just go back in time?"

The Doctor's eyes narrowed slightly as he replied "The Weeping Angels were using New York as a…a farm. There were too many paradoxes, one more would have blasted the city right off the map, not to mention out of history. Do you really think I wouldn't have rescued them if I could?"

It was obvious that he'd hit a nerve, and John felt a twinge of guilt. "No, you would have…sorry I asked" he apologised; the Doctor shrugged it off, and the line shuffled forward a bit more. "What's taking so long?" John complained, sounding more like his five year old daughter than a twelve hundred year old Time Lord. He peered past the person in front of him to try and see the front of the line, where the person selling tickets was being irritatingly slow about it. "I knew I should've gotten a hold of a Golden Ticket" he grumbled.

"Tell me about it" the Doctor muttered in agreement, "We could have skipped the lines with one of those".

Anna looked at Romana and remarked with a tinge of amusement, "He's not very patient in any dimension, is he?"

Romana chuckled and agreed, "No, not really". Then she noticed her husband's put-out expression and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's okay, love. I wouldn't trade you for anything, regardless" she promised, and he beamed.

John sighed exaggeratedly. "Oh, don't mind me; my wife has a new friend, my little girl has a new friend, everything's hunky-dory. I'm not lonely or anything".

"Oh, John?" Anna smiled sweetly at her husband; he smiled eagerly and asked "Yes, dear?"

She nodded behind him and pointed out "The line's moving".

The happy smile disappeared as he looked over his shoulder at the line, which was indeed moving forwards, finally. John gave Anna a mock-glower and turned to follow…but he smiled again, when he sensed her step in behind him. _What's wrong, my love? _she asked him, _And please don't say 'nothing'. You haven't been acting like yourself since we met the Time Quintet…are they bothering you? _

_No! Well…sort of. It's not that I dislike them, it's just…I was looking forward to spending the whole day with you and Hope, just the three of us, and then…I gate-crashed myself _he explained in chagrin.

Anna smiled and pointed out _Thief, you get to spend every day with Hope and I; when else is she going to get the chance spend time with, well, her sibling from another dimension? When are we going to have the opportunity to talk to other Time Lords? _

_Mm, you're right, as usual; alright, I'll try not be Mr Grumpy Face for your sake – and for Hope's, of course. _

_I'm glad _Anna smiled again, and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. He beamed and turned his head to give her a peck on the lips, but ended up kissing the tip of her nose instead. Romana sensed her husband's pensive mood as he watched his alternate self and Anna, and inquired _Theta? Tell me, please, what's the matter? _

_Sorry. It's nothing important, really. I'm just being silly; silly old Doctor. Don't worry about it, love _he tried to reassure her, and brush it off, but she wasn't having any of it.

_Oh no, you don't. I gave you a pass earlier but I want to know now, what is upsetting you? I want to know before we reach the rollercoaster, mind you _she warned him. The Doctor sighed internally; he should have been honest with her from the beginning, really, but in his head the real reason for his standoffishness sounded so…_selfish _and immature. Still, he'd always known he'd tell her everything in the end, so why not now?

_Okay, the truth is…it's hard for me to see, well, myself being so affectionate with his wife who isn't you, and his daughter who isn't Emily. I can't really explain it, and I know it's ridiculous, it isn't as if it's anyone's fault, but – _he stopped rambling when Romana took his hand and squeezed it supportively. _I understand, Theta. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't peculiar for me to see another woman with someone who looks identical to you _she admitted.

_But then, why didn't it bother you as much as me? _

_Because I'm not as silly as you are _she teased him, and then explained _Actually, it's because 'John' might look just like you, but he isn't _this _you. _You _are my husband, not him. Anna is his wife, not yours; and as for Hope, I don't mind in the slightest that she isn't our daughter, I'm just happy that Emily has made a new friend. _

The Doctor gave Romana a loving smile and told her _You're right; you're absolutely right, as usual…remind me again what I did to deserve someone like you? _

_Who knows? _She chuckled; _I could ask the same thing about you…oh, it looks like our turn is next. It's two people per cart, so far as I can tell, so do you want to sit with me or with Emily? _

_With you – Emily can sit next to Hope, other me can sit next to Anna, and Flavia can sit next to…err… _

"Corsair!" Emily suddenly exclaimed, waving enthusiastically at the Time Lord who had just walked up to him; Romana and the Doctor had been so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't notice the man approach. "Oh, hey" the Doctor greeted, "You've been on all the rollercoasters, then?"

"Nah, just the ones that give you the biggest adrenaline rush; it was kind of boring, actually, wandering around on my own" he admitted, sounding almost surprised by that. Before House, before the Quintet, he'd always been a loner…not so much anymore, apparently.

"You're gonna come on this rollercoaster with us, aren't you?" Emily asked hopefully.

"Isn't it against the rules to cut in line?"

"Since when do you care about the rules?" the Doctor retorted jokingly.

The Corsair shrugged and replied "Touche! Still, I guess I should at least do it the polite way" he acknowledged, turning to Flavia and clearing his throat. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you, ma'am, but would you mind if I joined the line just ahead of you?" he asked in an affected posh accent that set Emily and Hope off giggling.

Flavia resisted the urge to laugh as well, but she couldn't help the corners of her lips turning upwards. "Oh, go on then, if you must" she acquiesced, letting him step in front of her…it was all worth it when Emily cheered and thanked her for letting the Corsair join them, and if she was being honest, things had seemed a little dull without the Corsair around…not that she'd ever tell him that.

/

The rollercoaster proved to be worth the wait – Emily and Hope certainly enjoyed it, if their squeals of terrified delight were anything to go by. When they got off the ride, the girls clamoured for ice cream – and candyfloss, and toffee apples, and marshmallow puffs – basically any sweet treat they could lay eyes on, and of course their eyes were bigger than their stomachs.

"Now, hold on; you can have _one _of those treats, not all four" Anna insisted, and Romana nodded in solidarity. The two Time Tots reluctantly agreed, but their disappointed pouts compelled John to blurt out "If you pick ice cream, I – I'll let you have as many topping as you want!"

"We'll let you have whatever kind of ice cream you want!" the Doctor added, "Chocolate, peppermint, bubble gum"-

"I didn't know you could get bubble gum ice cream!" Hope exclaimed in amazement; she and Emily made a dash for the nearest ice cream stand, prompting their parents to hurry after them. Fortunately, albeit oddly, the waiting line wasn't nearly as long for ice cream as it was for the roller coaster. This might have been because the ice cream vendor had multiple limbs with which to do several things at once.

Romana took advantage of the short wait to inform her husband, "Just so you know, dear, if Emily gets cavities from all the sweets you spoil her with, _you're _paying for the dentist's bill".

"Couldn't agree more" Anna interjected, "Oh, and if Hope gets sick later, then I'm sure you won't mind cleaning her up, will you?" she asked John with a sweet smile.

"Uh, yes, I mean no, of course I don't!" John replied with a nervous, awkward grin.

"That's no problem at all. Honest!" the Doctor gulped, both he and his counterpart making mental notes to try and resist harder when their daughters begged for one last cookie before bedtime.

In the end they all purchased ice creams, and after that the Corsair won Emily a stuffed panda and Hope a stuffed leopard at a shooting gallery. He also gave them both puzzle boxes – or rather, puzzle polygons, and explained that pressing the right panels simultaneously would open each part. The girls couldn't wait to solve the puzzles and see what might be inside, so they stopped for a break in a little rest-stop area with picnic benches and a small fountain.

Emily and Hope fiddled with their polygons, squeezing the little dodecahedrons to try and press all twelve panels at once. "How did you get these?" Emily asked her godfather curiously.

"I had to battle a sea monster, and a dragon" he replied casually, and their eyes went round in wonder.

"Really?!"

"Of course!" the Corsair nodded, before smirking "They were part of a prize for a virtual reality fantasy battle game".

Realising they'd been tricked, Hope and Emily stuck their tongues out at the Time Lord, who merely chuckled in amusement. Then the latter realised "There's a virtual reality? I wanna do that!"

"Hey, you're in luck. The top prize – which I won after winning your puzzles – is a free game pass" the Corsair explained, before knocking back the rest of his beer and adding "Of course you'll have to beat my high score if you want to get another free pass".

"Wow, thanks!"

"Yeah, you're really cool!"

"Oi" John said mock-petulantly, "I thought I was really cool?"

"We thought _we _were really cool" the Doctor corrected jokingly.

"You guys are the coolest" Emily assured her dad, before innocently inquiring "How come you were being weird before?"

Her father raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked "You noticed?"

"Well duh" Hope rolled her eyes at the grown-ups, "We're not dumb".

"No, you're not" John smiled fondly at her; it turned wry when he looked at his doppleganger and pointed out "We _were _being a bit obvious, weren't we?"

"I still can't believe I missed you two bickering" the Corsair lamented, "It sounds like it would have been hilarious".

"We weren't bickering" the Doctor insisted, "We were just…thinking the wrong things about each other, that's all…luckily we have our wives to talk some sense into us" he explained, winding an arm around Romana's shoulders.

Hope fiddled with her puzzle polygon and remarked "If I had a double, I'd…I'd do lots of secret-y stuff with them. Like um, pretending I'm them, and they're me".

"Yeah, if I had a double or a twin, I'd swap places all the time" Emily agreed, "That'd be funny". She huffed in frustration at her own polygon, trying to press several panels at once. She'd figured out which ones to press, but she couldn't reach all of them with her fingers properly. "This is _hard_" she whined, "I don't think it was made for, for people with just ten fingers".

"I think it was made for people with twelve fingers" Hope added, pouting at the puzzle she couldn't figure out in annoyance. The adults glanced at one another in amusement, wondering if they should point out the obvious. Anna decided they could use a little nudge in the right direction, and cleared her throat. "Hope, darling?"

"Yes, mummy?"

"You and Emily both have ten fingers. What's ten plus ten?"

"It's twenty; but we need twelve fingers each, not twen"- both she and Emily looked at each other and realised "_Oh_".

Emily put her puzzle between them, and they each pressed three fingers on the first row of intersected triangles. The top half of the polygon lit up, and the six triangles on top opened like geometric petals. A metal stick protruded from the top, and at first the girls were disappointed, until the Doctor pointed out that they hadn't pressed all of the panels yet.

So they pressed more of the triangles, and the panels unfolded, and the stick moved upward each time. In a matter of moments, the polygon had become an upside down triangle flower. Hope and Emily held it up and pressed the last six triangles on the bottom. With a whirr, the metal stem slid down through the rings of multicoloured petals. Emily grasped the step and pressed the button on the end, smiling in delight as the whole thing lit up and started spinning.

Now that they'd figured out the trick, she and Hope made short work of opening the other girl's puzzle piece spinning flower fan toy…thing. "Gosh, that was _easy!" _Hope beamed, as if she hadn't just been struggling to open it not five minutes earlier. She handed her new toy to her dad to hold and held her arms out for a hug. Emily quickly passed her own spinning flower to her mum and obliged.

"Thanks, Emily. You're the best half-sister from a different timeline ever!"

"You too!" Emily grinned, high fiving her trans-dimensional new sibling, "So what d'you wanna do next?"

/

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long, I was having writer's block and I've been a bit busy at work. I'm sorry if it's not very good, but I didn't want to make a complicated plotline and I think I managed that okay. I'm just happy I managed to get it done before Saturday – the return of Doctor Who!

I've decided that I will hold off on posting the next instalment of the TDWAU series until after Series 9 has aired. I'll still write out the chapters, but I want to try something different this time and wait until everything plays out before I post the story. Of course this might change, but that's the score for now.

However, if you guys want me to, I could take random paragraphs or dialogue from the chapters I write out, the interesting parts, and post them as little sneak peeks once I've finished a set of chapters for an episode. Let me know if you like that idea, please ;)

Vworp on!


	18. Chapter 18 - Pirate Palooza

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the wait (again) I tried to get this one out sooner than the last chapter. So, I went back and edited several chapters of 'The TARDIS Family' and one chapter of 'Growing Pains', changing Emily's ages. It doesn't affect this story, I just wanted to let you know in case you read them and wondered 'huh, why is she older there?' If there are any other chapters where her age is mentioned, let me know and I'll edit them appropriately.

Pirate Palooza

The peace and quiet of the deserted console room was shattered when a squealing blond six year old came running in from a corridor. Her father was right behind her; he chased her round and round the console, scooped her up and blew a raspberry on her tummy. Emily shrieked with laughter, her flailing arm whacking the Doctor around the head. He stared at her in mock incredulity. "You hit me!"

"Then perhaps you shouldn't tickle her like that, dear" Romana suggested, having followed her husband and daughter into the console room at a more leisurely pace. The Doctor grinned at her and bounced Emily in his arms. "Nah, she likes it, don't you sweetheart?"

Emily giggled happily and replied "Yeah!"

Romana smiled in fond amusement and walked over to give them both kisses on the cheek. Whilst squirming to try and get away, Emily caught sight of her godmother emerging from one of the corridors. "Good morning!" she cheered, wriggling out of her dad's grasp and running over to give Flavia a hug. The Time Lady returned it and the greeting. "Good morning, Emily. Did you sleep well?"

"Yep!" beamed Emily. She ran to the console and stood on her tiptoes, peering at the controls. "Where're we going?"

"On an adventure!" a voice boomed cheerfully, its owner striding into the console room with a grin on his face. "You guys are gonna love what I've got in mind for today's trip" the Corsair announced, before reaching down and ruffling Emily's hair. "Hey, kiddo, how'd you like to go sailing?"

"In a boat?!"

"Not a silly little boat, a _ship_".

Emily's eyes went round.

"And not just any ship, but a _pirate _ship".

Emily's eyes went even rounder.

"So what d'you think? Fancy being a pirate for a day?"

"Eeee! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" she squealed, jumping up and down in excitement. The TARDIS bleeped and hummed, not entirely happy with her floor being used as a trampoline. Emily stopped bouncing and just fidgeted in place, eyes shining. The Corsair looked round at the others and inquired "So, who else is on board? Figuratively and literally speaking" he added, smirking at his own joke.

Curious, Flavia asked "Where in Omega's name are you going to get a pirate ship from? Unless you mean to visit Captain Avery".

"Nah, Avery's flying a spaceship now, remember? _I_ have hired an actual 17th century replica pirate vessel from a dock-master in Cuba" the Corsair revealed, before explaining "I got bored one night and went out on my own, and it's a long story but there were these alien squids and one thing led to another and I hooked Pedro up with his boyfriend and now he owes me one. So, I called him last night and asked if I could borrow his pirate ship for the day" he shrugged.

There was a moments silence, and the Doctor asked indignantly "Wait, you went off and fought alien squids invading Earth without us?"

"They weren't invading, there were only eight of them" the Corsair said dismissively, moving to the controls. The phone rang; he picked it up and pressed it to his ear. "Hello? Oh, hey, Donna, what's up?"

Donna replied on the other end, and the Corsair held the phone out to Romana. Emily waved at the phone enthusiastically; her father lifted her up so she could speak into the receiver properly. "Hi, Auntie Donna!"

"Hello, Emily" Donna laughed, "Is your mummy there?"

"I'm here, hello Donna" Romana smiled, holding the phone to her ear, "How are you?"

"Good, thanks. Listen, I was wondering if Emily might like to come round for a playdate with the boys. I've already invited Martha to bring Maria, and she's fine with it, how about you?"

"Oh, a playdate sounds lovely…but err, the Corsair had an idea to go sailing on a pirate ship and I think Emily had her hearts set on that" Romana explained apologetically.

The Corsair suddenly gestured for her to pass the phone back to him. Confused, she said "Um, he wants to talk to you", and passed it over.

"Hey, Donna. Listen…what?" he frowned, "Oh, no, it's not an _actual _pirate ship. Well, it is, but there aren't any pirates on it. Gimme some credit, I wouldn't put Emily in danger like that…Exactly. So I was thinking, why don't you let Liam and Joshua come with us? Oh, and Maria as well. I'm pretty sure between the four of us we can keep an eye on the little tykes" the Corsair suggested.

There was a pause, and then he continued "Okay, great! The TARDIS should probably turn up in about twenty minutes or so, give or take. We'll definitely aim for the right day, which is…5th August 2020, gotcha…yeah, we'll see you later, bye!"

He hung up and clapped his hands together. "Right then, I'll drop myself off to get the ship ready, you guys go and pick up Emily's friends, and meet me at the dock at nine thirty-ish. Just use the saved co-ordinates I'm putting in" he instructed, inputting co-ordinates. The other adults moved to help pilot as Emily darted in between their legs, dancing around in excitement. They were going on a pirate ship ride with her family and her best friends, what could be better?

/

Pedro really was a nice man; he'd met them just outside the harbour and guided them down to the ship that the Corsair (or Cory Pond, as Pedro knew him) had hired from him. All four children made expressions and sounds of awe as they craned their necks up at the seemingly massive vessel. It looked just like a real pirate ship, with cannons and a black sail and a dragon carved into the prow. The name of the ship was visible on the side of the ship: the _Cursed Doubloon. _

"It's cursed?" asked Liam, "Cool!"

"What's a 'do-bloon'?" asked Joshua, squinting up at the name. Pedro chuckled and replied "A doubloon is an old, gold Spanish coin. Very rare, you have one, it make you very rich". He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted "Hey, Cory! Your amigos are here!"

There was a pause, and then the Corsair leaned out over the side, wearing a tri-corner hat. "Ahoy, me hearties!" he yelled back, waving, "Are ye ready t' set sail o'er this here briny deep?!"

Emily frowned, puzzled. "What'd he say?" she asked her dad; he shrugged and replied, "I think he said 'hello', but I'm not sure".

The gangplank was lowered; the adults carried a child each, to stop them from falling through the gaps in the railings. Up on deck, they found the Corsair waiting for them, dressed up like a pirate with his tri-corner and a cutlass in the scabbard hanging around his waist. For added realism, he'd replaced his prosthetic left arm with one with a hook on the end. "Arr, what d' we have 'ere? The four finest sailors this side o' the Caribbean, I'll wager" he said, grinning down at the four kids.

"Why are you talking funny?" asked Emily, tilting her head curiously. The Corsair gestured to his hat and replied "I'm talking like a pirate! If you lot are gonna be pirates for the day, we're gonna do this properly! We're gonna talk like pirates, look like pirates, _eat _like pirates – yes?"

Maria lowered her hand and inquired "How do pirates eat?"

"Without knives and forks!" the Corsair informed them, and they all cheered (although Maria was a little less enthusiastic than the others). The Doctor grinned as well; then he caught Romana's amused glance, and quickly plastered a more sober expression on his face.

Flavia cleared her throat pointedly and informed the four children, "Now remember, this trip is only for the day, so please don't keep using bad manners when you're back at home with your parents. That includes you, Emily" she added. Emily giggled nervously, and answered "We won't, we promise". There were hasty, and in two cases not entirely honest, nods of agreement from her three friends.

"Aye, me lass, 'tis sound advice yer givin' thar" the Corsair remarked, his solemn expression offset completely by the ridiculous accent, "Why if Pedro 'ere weren't me bo'sun, and ye weren't a wench, I'd make ye me bo'sun faster than a cannonball sinks down t' Davy Jones's locker".

Flavia stared at him incredulously. "I _beg _your pardon?"

"Ah, he says that if I weren't his boatswain – second in command, that is – and if you were not a woman, he would make you his second in command, you see?" Pedro explained, trying to be helpful. Flavia looked between him and the Corsair, growing ever more indignant by the moment. "What does my gender have to do with anything?" she demanded a bit peevishly.

"Oh, nothing, senora, absolutely nothing!" Pedro assured her quickly, "It is simply that – we only meant – err"

"Women weren't allowed to be boatswains; in fact, women wouldn't usually be allowed on board ship at all unless they dressed up like men…maybe you should have tied your hair into a beard" the Corsair remarked in a thoughtful tone. Flavia gaped at him; the only thing stopping her from marching over and slapping the man senseless was the children. To be fair, though, all four of them looked entirely oblivious as to what was going on.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked curiously, before adding "Uh, I mean, where _arr _we going?"

The Corsair snorted in amusement. "Good first try, kiddo" he grinned, "but 'where are we going' in ye old pirate speak would be something more like, 'Arr, cap'n, where be we heading?' As for where we are going, you see that island off the starboard stern?" he asked, pointing to a small island southeast of the ship. "Starboard is 'right' in ship talk, by the way".

"And 'port' is left" Maria piped up, "My daddy told me".

"Our daddy said port is an icky drink" Liam remarked afterwards. He and his brother were dressed near-identically, in little sailor costumes, but Liam had a red bandana tied round his neck and Joshua had a blue one.

"It's both" the Corsair informed them, before adding "That isle be home t' treasure o' t' _Cursed Doubloon, _t' real pirate ship this one 'ere is named after…and ye know why they called it that?"

"Because it was cursed?" guessed Joshua.

"Arr, precisely, me lad; they stole sacred treasure, and ended up running aground on that there isle. Today, we set forth to"-

"Are there ghosts there?" Emily inquired out of the blue.

"What?"

"Are we gonna have to fight cursed pirate ghosts?"

Maria's eyes widened fearfully. "G-ghosts? I don't wanna be near ghosts!"

"No, Maria there are no cursed pirate ghosts around" Romana assured her, noting with a mixture of amusement and pity that Emily and the twins looked a bit disappointed, whereas Maria seemed relieved.

"Of course not" agreed Flavia, "It's ridiculous. There are no such things as ghosts or curses".

The Corsair let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like "_Buzzkill!_" before clearing his throat and continuing, "Where was I? Oh, right. The purpose o' this 'ere voyage is t' sail across t' that isle, follow this map", he pulled a rolled up piece of yellowing parchment out of his pocket and waved it in front of them, "right t' the booty!"

At first, the four children only stared at him blankly, so he clarified, "We're going to look for their treasure".

"_Oh…_"

"Here, look at the map while Pedro and I get us on course" the Corsair suggested, tossing them the rolled up parchment. He looked up at the other three adults and vaguely said "You can help too, if you want, I guess".

They got out of harbour and set sail for the island, which seemed to the children like it was right on the edge of the horizon. Pedro gave them a tour of the ship, teaching the four kids all the nautical terms like prow and stern, galley, forecastle, cabin and so on. Then with Pedro's help, the Corsair took it upon himself to teach them some not-so-good old fashioned pirate lingo.

"Let's start with the basics: 'Ahoy' is 'hello', 'aye' is yes, and 'aye, aye', is yes, sir! I'm the sir, by the way" he jabbed himself in the chest with his plastic hook. "As for 'no', ye can either say just 'no', or 'd'arr', as in 'D'arr cap'n, tis a mighty fine haul ye got thar'. I hope you're all taking this in".

Emily and her friends were giggling too much to reply. She caught her breath enough to ask "How do pirates say goodbye?"

"Well now, I s'pose the closest thing would be 'gu'bye' …there is pirate talk for 'goodbye', but I think Flavia would glare at me even more if I mentioned it" the Corsair admitted. He flashed Flavia a charming smile. She rolled her eyes.

Maria raised her hand, ever the polite one, and inquired "Um, how do pirates say 'please' and 'thank you'?"

The Corsair chuckled and replied "Heh, there not be those words in pirate speak. The pirates of old weren't big on manners, on account of being, y'know, pirates" he pointed out. "I s'pose the closest ye could get would be 'gimme' fer please, and 'arr', fer thanks" he shrugged, before clapping his hands together and declaring, "Right! I'll say the word in English, and you say the word in Pirate. Hello!"

"Ahoy!" they chorused back.

"Yes sir!"

"Aye, aye!"

"Excellent!" the Corsair grinned, "How close are we to land, bo'sun?"

"About fifteen knots, Captain" Pedro replied, "Thar be time fer the young'uns to go on up t' the crow's nest, yer know".

"The nest? You – um, yer mean the bit at the top o' the mast? I wanna go up there!" Emily interjected eagerly.

"Yeah, me too!" cried Liam.

"Me three!" added Joshua.

Emily and the twins turned to Maria expectantly. The shy little girl looked up at the tall, thick mast, and the platform on top, very high…and shook her head. "Um, no thank you" she murmured, shrinking back a little.

Joshua made a chicken noise – Maria stuck her tongue out at him and protested "I'm not chicken, I just don't like being up high".

"Yer not talkin' right" Liam insisted, "Yer meant to say 'D'arr, arr'".

"Yeah, talking like a pirate is fun!" Emily agreed; she looked up at the Corsair and inquired, "Gimme can we go up on the crow's nest?"

He barely resisted laughing out loud at her bad grammar, torn between pride and amusement. "Course yer can, me lass" he said, leading Emily up to the mast.

The others gathered around as well. "How're we s'posed t' get up thar, anyway?" the Doctor questioned, gesturing up at the crow's nest.

_You're doing it too, now? _Romana asked telepathically, both amused and a tad incredulous.

_Well, like Emily said, it's fun! _

"Arr, it be a clever ruse on ol' Pedro's part. 'Ere, matey, show 'em the secret" the Corsair prompted Pedro, who came forward and pressed a knob of wood on the otherwise smooth mast. The wooden façade slid around, revealing sleek chrome and metal inside, accompanied by a chorus of delighted "_Ooh_"s from the four children.

"It's a lift" Romana realised, "Disguised as the mast; that's quite clever".

"Aye, tis why th' mast be so thick, more than a normal galleon" Pedro nodded, before warning, "Tis a limit, though, jus' four people can fit inside at a time". Putting a piratical accent on top of his natural Spanish one made his voice sound strange, even with the TARDIS translation circuits.

"Let's go up thar!" Emily cheered, running inside the hidden lift and pulling faces at her distorted reflection. Liam and Joshua hurried inside after her, followed by the Corsair. Once the four of them were within the lift, Pedro pressed the knob again and the door slid shut with a whoosh, before they began to rise, rumbling, up the inside of the mast.

Up at the top, the door opened once more to reveal a small gap between the lift and the crow's nest. It was still wide enough for small feet to slip through, so the Corsair helped them over it. "You three be careful up here" he warned them sternly. All three six year olds nodded emphatically, and then went back to peering through the wooden slats and wire at the ship below, and the ocean, and the land.

The Corsair pulled a telescope from his coat and let the kids take turns peering through it at the island. "What do pirates say when they get to land?" asked Emily.

"The same thing as all sailors say, Land-Ho!" replied the Corsair.

"Let's say it on the count of three" she decided, "Ready? One, two, three"-

"_Land-Ho!" _three childish voices shouted at the same time, as loud as they could…even then, the adults left at the bottom of the mast could only just hear it. The ship wouldn't actually be able to weigh anchor until it got closer to shore, giving them all time to go up to the crow's nest (except Maria, who was too nervous, and Flavia, who stayed with her).

It wasn't long before they weighed anchor, and went ashore in a medium sized rowboat. The Corsair and Pedro rowed, whilst the others tried to keep the children – well, Emily and the twins – from leaning too far over the side trying to spot fishes. Then they reached the shore, and dragged the rowboat up onto the sand. The Corsair looked down at Emily and asked "Arr, me lass, have ye kept t' map high n' dry?"

She nodded and pulled the folded, slightly crumpled map from her shorts pocket. "Aye, aye!" she beamed, holding it up.

"Well then, where's our first heading?"

"Oh, it's um…" Emily unfolded the map, getting Liam and Joshua to hold it open whilst she stepped back and looked it over. "It says we gotta start opposite three palm trees" she announced. They looked around for the palm trees in question; Maria spotted them first and exclaimed "There they are!"

All four children took off along the beach, hollering in excitement. Romana hurried to keep an eye on them, and the Doctor followed her, leaving Pedro, Flavia and the Corsair to follow. Flavia shook her head and remarked "I can't believe you, Corsair".

"What?"

"It's not nice to get their hopes up like this. Do you have any idea how disappointed they'll be when they find out there isn't actually any treasure?"

The Corsair chuckled, "Oh, ye of little faith". He winked at her and jogged up off the beach. Confused, Flavia looked at Pedro, who could merely shrug.

/

The 'map' took them on a winding path along the beach, through a grove, up the side of the mountain a little, and into the cave. Sitting on a large rock in the middle was a large wooden chest. "We did it!" Emily cried in delight, "We found the treasure! Arr!"

Cheering and jumping for joy, the four children ran over to open the chest, only to find that it was locked. "How're we s'posed to open it?" Liam asked, frowning.

"Yeah, there isn't even a keyhole!" added Joshua.

Emily looked closer at the lock and realised, "It doesn't need a key, guys! It's a pressure lock; we have to press on it in the right way to open it" she explained. The four of them got right down to figuring out how to open the chest.

Romana looked at the Corsair and asked "Did you put that there?"

"Aye" he nodded, "I planned the whole thing out from the get go…I was going to suggest this trip on her birthday, but Emz had her heart set on going to Hedgewick's World of Wonders".

"Is there actually treasure in the chest, though?" the Doctor wondered curiously.

The Corsair shrugged and replied "Well, it's treasure for kids, let's say".

"Well, I have to admit, I misjudged you" Flavia smiled at him, "Perhaps you're not as bad of an influence as I thought".

"Ah heh…you might not want to thank me just yet…"

The other pilots frowned in confusion and worry. "Why not?" asked Romana, partly dreading the answer…

"Oh my gosh!" Emily exclaimed in delight; she and her friends had succeeded in opening the chest, and were delving into the spoils within. "Mummy, daddy! It's full of chocolate coins!"

"And gummy rings!" Maria added, eating a few of them. The gummy Haribo rings were her favourite!

The Doctor, Romana and Flavia stared at the Corsair, realising that he had deliberately unleashed a sugar high and then stomach aches onto not only them, but their friends as well. The Corsair, for his part, could only smile awkwardly and say, "Happy early Halloween?!"

/

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this latest instalment of 'HTRATT', I know I enjoyed writing it : ) I'm going on a cruise next week, in the Med, soooo psyched! Consider this the unofficial 'Halloween HTRATT chapter' for this year, since I'll probably not get one out for the actual day. It's also a late tribute to 'Talk Like a Pirate Day', which I didn't know about until after the fact, but I wish I'd heard about it sooner because talking like a pirate is hilarious XD. Vworp on!


	19. Chapter 19 - Heart Warming Holiday

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Merry Christmas! Again, apologies for the incessantly long wait, I was working on chapters of 'Alterations', my other fanfic. As for the future of 'TDWAU' series, rest assured that I do plan to go into Series 9, and possibly Series 10, but that remains to be seen. I've already got some of the groundwork planned out, and a few surprises in store ;)

Heart Warming Holiday

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house – well, TARDIS - not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…except for Emily, who had woken up early and was padding down the hall to her parent's bedroom in her fluffy reindeer onesie. She reached up on her tippy toes and turned the knob; the door swung open silently. Grinning excitedly, Emily sneaked up to her parent's bed, climbed up onto it, and started jumping.

Romana and the Doctor were roused out of a light doze by the sensation of their mattress moving up and down. As soon as she saw their eyes crack open, Emily giggled and cheered "Merry Christmas, mummy! Merry Christmas, daddy!"

"Merry Christmas, darling!" smiled Romana, sitting up and pulling Emily into her arms for a cuddle. The Doctor beamed at the sight and put his arms around them both, kissing Emily on the top of her head and Romana on the lips. "Merry Christmas, love" he murmured, stroking her hair. Romana smiled and pecked him on the cheek, saying "Merry Christmas, dear. So where shall we go today?"

The Doctor beamed and jumped out of bed, announcing "I have the best idea; go on Emily, go get dressed, we'll meet you in the kitchen" he prompted, pulling Emily off the bed and setting her down on the carpet.

"Okay!" the little girl agreed readily, running out of the room. Romana stood up as well and smoothed down her nightie. "So where _are _we going?" she asked curiously. The Doctor spun around and pressed a finger to her lips. "Ah, ah, ah, it's a surprise" he winked at her, before hurrying over to the wardrobe to pull out some clothes.

It wasn't long before all four pilots, and one little Time Tot, were gathered in the kitchen eating bacon, eggs and then _pain au chocolats._ "Daddy's had the best idea ever!" Emily informed her godparents through a mouthful of French pastry.

"Emily, dear, don't eat with your mouth full" Flavia reminded her. Emily swallowed and replied, "Sorry, Flavia".

"So what is this 'best idea ever'?" the Corsair inquired.

Emily opened her mouth to reply, and then stopped, realising that she didn't know the answer. Stumped, she turned to her father, who merely smiled mischievously and answered, "It's a surprise".

"Aww, but I wanna know _now_" Emily whined, folding her arms and pouting.

"If you pull that frowny face for too long, it'll get stuck that way" the Doctor warned her, and she came out of her funk momentarily to ask, "Really?"

"Nah, he's just pulling your leg" the Corsair interrupted, before adding "This must be some surprise if it can beat me carving 'MERRY CHRISTMAS EMZ' into the Ice Cliffs of Coriza with my blaster".

The Doctor's smile faltered just slightly, but the Corsair's keen eyes picked up on it. "Ooh, is that a bit of doubt I sense?" he asked, grinning, "It's alright, Doc, I understand. I'm a tough act to follow".

"Don't call me 'Doc'…and I have a great surprise lined up! Trust me, you're all going to love it" the Doctor asserted confidently. He refused to say anymore on the matter, bearing up (just about) in the face of his daughter's pleading pouts. After breakfast, they dressed up warmly and the Doctor landed them in their mystery location. Grinning fit to bust, he skipped up to the doors and flamboyantly flung them open. "Behold, Sardicktown!" he cheered, as a blast of cold air wafted inside the TARDIS.

His excited smile vanished, and he frowned in confusion…he knew he'd double checked the co-ordinates, but the Victorian style street was snowless and gloomy, not what he'd expected at all. Doors and windows were closed and shuttered, and the sky was filled with oppressive grey clouds. "This is the big surprise?" the Corsair scoffed, "Oh, wow. Amazing. I am so impressed" he stated in a monotone.

In response, the Doctor stuck his tongue out. Flavia rolled her eyes at them and remarked, "When you two are done being childish, perhaps you'd like to explain what we're doing here, Doctor?"

"We're…it wasn't meant to look like this, Flavia" the Doctor protested, "There was supposed to be snow, and lanterns and roasted chestnuts, and garlands and flying shark drawn carriages and other Christmassy stuff" he explained, his arms practically wind-milling as he paced back and forth.

"_What _drawn carriages?"

"Hang on" Romana realised, "Sardicktown? Oh, this is the town you told me about on Emily's first Christmas" she recalled.

Her husband snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Exactly!" he exclaimed, "I always meant to come back here someday, but I got caught up with other things. Running into Jackson Lake the other day made me think of more places I'd like to revisit. I didn't think it would be this…dull" he finished, gesturing at the deserted street.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Flavia. The Doctor's piloting skills, whilst not exactly shoddy, weren't in top form either…though she supposed that was only natural, given that he'd gone and stolen a TARDIS designed for _six _pilots instead of one.

As if he'd read her mind – he hadn't, she made sure of that – the Doctor frowned and insisted, "I'm not _that _bad at flying my own TARDIS. I know this is the right place, and the right time…something isn't right here, which means this is a…?"

"Mystery!" Emily cheered. The Doctor scooped her up and strode off down the street, declaring "Precisely! Come on, you lot, there's someone we need to pay a visit".

/

They walked through the warren of terraced houses to a large, domed mansion. The Doctor set Emily down and walked up the front steps, tugging on the door handle. It was locked. He hammered on the door and called, "Kazran?! Kazran, it's me, the Doctor!"

"No-one's there, Doctor" the Corsair interrupted, "The windows are boarded up".

At first the Doctor just stared at him blankly. "So?"

"He means that whoever lived here has died, Doctor" Romana explained quietly. The Doctor drooped as if the air had been let out of him. "Oh, right…I knew that" he said hastily. Travelling with others of his own kind was wonderful, but sometimes he forgot how short his human friends' lifespans really were. He spotted someone walking down the street towards them and quickly rushed forward, hoping to get some answers. "Excuse me? Hello! Listen, I came here a long time ago and I'd like to…wait, don't I know you?" he asked, peering at the young man wearing a flat cap and a high collared brown coat.

The man stared at him with the same startled recognition. "It…it's you!" he exclaimed, "That strange man who fell out of the chimney in Sardick House!"

"I look good for my age, don't I?" the Doctor grinned, giving a spin, "Oh! I remember you; you're the father of the little boy who threw coal at Kazran… what happened to Kazran?"

"Hello!" Emily greeted. The young man blinked and looked down to see a little blond girl smiling up at him. "Merry Christmas, mister!" she added, "My name's Emily, this is my daddy and mummy, and my godparents. What's your name?"

"Merry Christmas, it's nice to meet you all. My name is Benjamin Pettigrew. As for what happened to Mr Sardick…I'll explain all I can, back at my house". He checked a fob watch and added, "We need to hurry, it'll be raining in fifteen minutes". He walked past them and beckoned for them to follow.

"Fifteen minutes is rather specific" Flavia commented as they strode through the cobbled streets. She stumbled, and gave the Corsair a grateful smile when he caught her arm; he gave her a wink and they walked on, taking care not to trip up on the uneven stones.

Benjamin replied, "The rain comes every night at eight forty five. Don't worry, my house isn't far now" he assured them. Ten minutes later, they were standing at the door of a terraced house, on a nondescript street. Ben unlocked it, and they filed into a small but comfortable looking living room. "I'm thinking we should've suggested going back to the TARDIS" the Corsair muttered, ducking his head to avoid hitting it on a low beam. _Note to self, regenerate shorter next time…maybe Flavia's height, she doesn't have any problems. _

The pitter-pat of little feet filled the air; a boy a few years older than Emily, with short brown hair, came scampering down a narrow stairwell and up to Benjamin. "Dad, you're home!" he grinned, before spotting their guests and staring. "Who're they?"

"I'd like to know that as well" said a half miffed, half amused voice. Ben's wife stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a worn apron. "Welcome home" she told her husband, giving him a peck on the lips, before inquiring, "So who have you found on the streets this time?"

"Oh, don't be like that, Jill. I couldn't just leave them there out in the rain" Ben replied. He looked at the Time Quintet and introduced his little family. "This is my wife, Jillian, and our son Bailey. Jill, Bailey, this is the Doctor. I've met him twice, once when I was a little boy. He and your Aunt Abigail came to dinner on Christmas Eve" he remembered.

Jill rolled her eyes and said "Oh, don't be so ridiculous. Why, he barely looks older than you!"

"Looks can be deceiving" the Doctor commented with a wink, before giving Jill an air kiss. Romana had tried to explain that it wasn't the normal way of greeting people…he'd scoffed, said being normal was for boring people, and proceeded to distract her from the subject with a series of kisses that were…less airy, to say the least. She took it upon herself to give out their introductions. "It's a pleasure to meet you all; my name is Romana, you've already met my husband, and this is our daughter, Emily. Say hello, Emily".

"Hello, Emily" she replied innocently.

The Corsair snerked, and Romana shot him a flat look. "This is Cory, Emily's godfather, and Flavia, Emily's godmother. We're sorry for disrupting you at such a late hour"-

"Oh, don't worry about it" Jill waved her off, "Honestly, I've gotten used to it already. Come and sit down, I'll make some tea. Bailey, why don't you go upstairs and play with Emily?"

The boy looked less than enthusiastic about playing with a girl; Emily had no such qualms. "Okay!" she exclaimed brightly, "Come on Bailey, we can play with your toys. Do you have a train set?" She grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him up the stairs, showing surprising strength (to the humans, at least). Bailey shot his parents a mutinous look over his shoulder before Emily tugged him out of sight. The grownups chuckled and gathered in the living room. Flavia and Romana helped make the tea, and they began to discuss what had happened in Sardicktown since the Doctor last left.

"Bailey only met Aunt Abigail once" said Benjamin, "She and Mr Sardick came to dinner that Christmas. We were all wary of him, at first, but…you could tell he'd changed. He kept looking at Abigail as if she were a vision, like she'd disappear if he looked away for too long. At first, everything seemed…sort of normal, but Abigail's condition only worsened. Mr Sardick wanted her to go back into stasis, so he could hold onto her for a little bit longer. She told him it was time to let her go…she said that her last request was for him to let them all go. Everyone he and his father had frozen.

"Mr Sardick granted her last wish. Everyone came home to their families, or nearest relatives, no payment asked. He sent his servants home, closed up his house and went into mourning. He hardly ever came out, and the only way we knew he wasn't becoming miserly again, is that he let spaceships land and let it snow. About eight months or so later, people noticed his house needed repairs, but Mr Sardick hadn't hired anyone – they investigated and found him dead in a chair, facing a portrait of Abigail. Officially he died of a heart attack, but everyone says he died because his heart was broken.

"That's when it all went wrong" Ben said helplessly, "Nobody could work out how to control his cloud machine; we thought if we just left it alone, things would go on as normal…but instead, it created thick clouds. Reports say the cloud layer is stretching around almost the entire planet – other weather generators are having a heck of a job driving it back. It rains on schedule, and sometimes the fog and the fish come down, but it hasn't snowed or shone for a year or so".

"_What?!" _a young voice squeaked in alarm, and they all jumped. Emily ran up to Benjamin and demanded, "Have you really not had snow or sunshine for _a whole year_?"

Before a rather flustered Ben could reply, Romana said "Emily, I thought you were playing upstairs with Bailey".

Emily and Bailey, who had followed her downstairs, shifted awkwardly, as if they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Uh…we were?"

"You were eavesdropping on us, weren't you?" the Corsair guessed, before ruffling her hair and adding "I've taught you well".

Flavia cleared her throat and glared at him pointedly, before steering them all back on topic. "I don't understand, surely turning this machine off…?"

"The machine is isomorphic" the Doctor explained with a grim expression, "It was keyed to Kazran specifically. Before I left the last time, I managed to adjust the settings so it would work for the man he had become…he must not have had time to reset it for a new owner. I should have disabled the isomorphic aspect completely, made it so anybody could use it"-

"Now, dear" Romana cut in, "Don't blame yourself. You had no way of knowing this would happen. Obviously we have to do something about this; I mean, they can probably live without snow, but a lack of sunlight could be having serious health effects".

"We all have to take vitamin D pills" Jill nodded sadly, "All of our food is imported, and the prices went through the roof, and it's only going to get worse…please, if you can really help us get our lives back, please do" she begged the Time Quintet. The adults nodded solemnly, and Emily got a look of pure determination on her little face. "Don't worry, Mr and Mrs Pettigrew and Bailey. No dumb old cloud making machine is gonna stop you from having a wonderful Christmas!"

"When will the rain let up?" the Doctor inquired, peering between the net curtains and through the darkened window. "We need to get back to that house and find a way to recalibrate that machine. Does it end on schedule too?"

Benjamin nodded. "It won't end for another forty minutes or so, I'm afraid" he explained apologetically. The Corsair tried not to grimace at the thought of being stuck in this small house for even longer…he got slightly claustrophobic sometimes, it was one of the reasons he often stood up even if a seat was available.

"I just have one more question" Emily announced; she looked at Benjamin once more and inquired, "Why are you working on Christmas Day?"

"Uh…it isn't Christmas Day yet" he answered, "It's only the fourth of December".

Four sets of eyes turned to the Doctor, who threw his hands up and said defensively, "Okay, so I messed up the co-ordinates a bit!"

/

They passed the time playing cards; the Doctor attempted to do tricks with them, failed, and had to deal with being shown up by the Corsair and laughed at by the two children. Emily regaled Bailey with some stories of their adventures, and quickly won him over by winning an arm wrestling match. She did have superior Gallifreyan strength on her side, but it was still a close call.

The moment the rain stopped, the Time Quintet headed out to Sardick Manor. Benjamin came with them – "After all, if this works, someone has to inform the authorities" he reasoned. When they reached the mansion, the Doctor tried to open the door only to remember that the sonic didn't work on wood. "Oh for – get out the way" the Corsair chided, pulling out his blaster and shooting the lock. One kick later, and the entrance was clear. All of them wrinkled their noses at the musty smell that emanated from the abandoned house.

They hurried through the hall to the main room, where the cloud controller was kept. It had been cordoned off, in a well-meaning attempt to stop anyone from fiddling with the device and making things worse. Whilst the adults got to work removing all the barriers, Emily wandered around the large, dusty room. On the wall hung a portrait, of a young woman with pale blond hair. "Is that Miss Abigail?" she asked, "She's really pretty".

"She is, isn't she?" Benjamin remarked, coming over to look at the picture of his older sister. He hadn't been much older than Bailey when she grew sick…

"I'm sorry she died" Emily told him quietly. He noted the unspoken question, and explained, "She had cancer…they thought it was benign, and by the time they realised it wasn't, well...she had a good life in the end, though. Thanks to your father".

"Daddy's good at helping people" Emily nodded, "That's why he's called the Doctor".

Once all the boards and chains had been removed and shoved aside, the Doctor whipped out his sonic and scanned the machine itself. "Yeah, it's just as I thought" he said, "With no-one to control it, the machine reset to default mode; pump out tons of ice clouds to create a barrier between the people and the fish – but why hasn't it run down?" he wondered, and then he got his answer, "Aha, it's powered by a hydro-electric converter, it literally gets its power from the clouds themselves".

"Yeah, yeah, that's all very interesting" the Corsair said impatiently, "How do we stop it?"

"Oh, it's an easy fix. Break. Whatever" the Doctor said confidently, "I just have to rewire it all to be non-isomorphic and set up an oscillating feedback loop to break apart the ice crystals in the clouds and unlock them, and bob's your uncle, there'll be a white Christmas and clear skies afterwards".

The inner workings of the machine were hidden behind a deadlock seal, but it was no match for four sonics. The Doctor reversed the polarity of the isomorphic controls, and manipulated them to break up the cloud layer instead of holding it together. The Corsair ran out to check the sky, and returned to announce "The clouds are shifting about a lot, but there's no sign of any snow; or sky, for that matter".

"Why isn't it working?" the Doctor frowned, "We've reversed the polarity, it should have broken up the clouds…oh".

"Oh?" asked Flavia.

"The last time I did this…I couldn't get the clouds to unlock without the correct resonance frequencies. It would take ages for our sonics to calculate the correct frequency, but Abigail's voice harmonised perfectly…but she's gone…"

Emily looked thoughtful. "Daddy, could someone else sing to the clouds?" she suggested, "Mummy has a pretty voice".

Romana smiled fondly and replied, "Oh, thank you sweetheart, you have a lovely voice too".

"That's it!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly, "Romana, your voice is like Abigail's, it should be enough to resonate with the ice crystals. It's worth a shot!"

It was a risk, since they didn't know if her voice would be the right resonance, but it was the best chance they had. They wired the Doctor's sonic to the machine, trailed the leads outside so they could boost the signal up to the cloud layer…in all the kerfuffle, Romana realised that she had no idea what to sing, and people were watching…

For a moment she grew nervous, but when the Doctor stepped into her line of sight and gave her a thumbs up, she smiled and sang, "I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need…I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree…I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know…make my wish come true…all I want for Christmas…is…you..."

Happy tears filled the Doctor's eyes, as his beautiful wife sang her heart out to him…lo and behold, small white flakes began to drift down around them. The townsfolk cheered and applauded, but the Doctor and Romana weren't paying any attention to them…their eyes were only for each other. "I don't want a lot for Christmas, this is all I'm asking for…I just want to see my baby…standing right outside my door…I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know, make my wish come true…baby, all I want for Christmas…is you...!"

"I can see the sky!" someone shouted, and a great cheer went up. It quickly turned to catcalls as the Doctor strode forwards and swept Romana up in a passionate kiss. It was only when Emily tugged impatiently at their trouser legs that they broke apart. "Mummy, that was amazing! You're such a good singer!"

"Oh, thank you. I'm so glad it worked, though…oh, look, Emily, see the fish?" her mother asked, pointing up at the sky. Emily craned her neck up and saw fish swimming through the air above them, darting in and out of the clouds. "Ooh! Can we go up to see them, daddy?"

"Of course!" he answered cheerfully, "And maybe we can try to find the shark that has half of my old sonic in it, and go on a flying shark drawn carriage ride! Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Emily. Romana shook her head in amusement, gave them both a kiss on the cheek, and murmured, "Merry Christmas, my loves".


	20. Chapter 20 - The Thoughts of the TARDIS

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Wow…bet most of you forgot this story even existed, lol. Sorry it took so long, but I was really struggling for inspiration. You have 'the stargate time traveller' to thank for this chapter; their review asking if the TARDIS played with Emily gave me the idea to do a TARDIS themed chapter. Thanks for the idea!

The Thoughts of the TARDIS

I am…was…will be…happy. Which is it? Am, was, will? Present, future, past…no, no, that's the wrong way round. Or is it? Who can tell? I'm happy in every tense, but I know I've been sad. Will be sad? Am I happy in just the present then? No, I think I will be happy, but for now, I'm content being happy now. Why am I happy? I'm happy for my Thief, because he'll finally find…finds…has found out…that he's not alone.

I will be…am...no, _was _angry, and sad when we were on House. I hate House. It killed my Sisters and hurt my Thief's kind. I was happy…no, bigger word than happy, more…bouncy...does that make sense? What is that word? Excited, that was it. I was excited when the box of light knocked on my door. My Thief and I were excited when he got the message from the Good Pirate. I was sad at the same time. I can see different timelines sometimes, and I saw one where his hearts were broken…I am so happy that it didn't happen.

I am sad that they were hurt, but I am happy that they are here. I am happy that the Good Pirate's message was not a trap…well, it was, but my Thief escaped it, and he brought not one, but three Gallifreyans with him! I recognised one right away – the Lady who travelled with us and helped my Thief recover the Key to Time. At first I won't…wouldn't…didn't really like her, but she changes and she's grown and she…ooh. Well. I know…or is it knew…straight away that one day, she wouldn't just be the Lady, to my Thief, she'd be his lady.

Oh, but wasn't there another one? The only water in the forest is the river. River, my…child…would she have been his wife? I think so, yes…is it bad that I almost prefer this timeline? At least here he is not alone, my Thief. He will never be alone. Now he has allies, co-pilots, friends…he found the Lady, the one who loved…will love…loves him and their…oh, and the Good Pirate of course, and the Chancellor. She will be…is…was out of place, but she was…will be…is learning. I thought she'd be troublesome, to be honest, but she is not. At least _she_ cleans up the dishes, Thief.

Where was I? Oh, yes, my Thief's co-pilots, his friends…they are coming…will come…have come with us, adventuring through time and space. Not that they had much choice…Gallifrey is gone…was gone…not gone…but they don't, didn't know that then. They could not go home, so they make…will make…have made a new home. I am their new home. Is that strange? Perhaps, but it is also…good. It feels good to be a home. Everyday I'm filled with bright minds and laughter and most of all, hope.

They could have stuck out or gotten in the way, yet the three newcomers fit right in. Thief and Romana have…had a friendship, it will be…no, was swiftly rekindled. She wishes and hopes he will come for them…for her…and he did, and she loves him for it. She doesn't…didn't know this at first. He dies...died – only for a few moments, thank goodness – before she knew, and then she didn't even talk to him until _she _nearly dies…died. Does dying make people talk about love? She tried to ask Pirate for advice on love. What was she thinking?

The Lady has changed since we last met…well, they all have, I suppose, even Thief. The Pirate is…was alone, travels alone, or with a pet. He didn't…no, doesn't have one now. He won't have…oh, dear. It hasn't happened yet, I think, and yet it has happened, it _is _happening. Ugh, tenses. How does anyone cope? I suppose they don't see the past and future and present all at once. Well, whenever it is, I am just going to say right now, _you're _cleaning the mess up, Pirate.

It is…was nice to see Pirate and Chancellor befriend the Orangey and Pretty Ones. It's nice that they find common ground…I think Pretty helped Flavia to not be driven completely round the bend by Thief and Pirate. Speaking of Pirate, he still drives her round the bend. Or he was. No, will. Maybe he'll always do that? No, maybe not…still, that's in the future. Or is it the past?

I will be…no, was sad when Pretty and Orange had to leave. We all understood, though; they had to go for their daughter. Melody Pond and River Song, doppelgängers turned siblings…the Corsair saved the little one and became her uncle, their odd little ragtag family got a little bigger…have I mentioned how much more I prefer this timeline? It wasn't…isn't…all bad in the other timeline, but in this one, even though he lost the Pretty and Orange ones, Thief and Lady gained a Tiny one.

The Tiny one isn't so tiny now…she can walk and talk and run and laugh. I like her laughing. I like playing with her; she likes playing with me. Right then…no, right now we're playing hide and seek. The Tiny one…oh, but she isn't tiny anymore…well, she is compared to me, but everyone is tiny compared to me…I wonder if she's bigger on the inside? I bet her mind is, and her hearts…her metaphorical hearts, of course. Where was I? Oh yes, the little one, the Child came up to my console and looked up at my rotor and asked, "Can we play hide and seek?"

I was – will be – _am _confused. _What do you mean, little one? _I ask her, but she cannot hear me. Or understand me for that matter. Still, she seems to take my beeps and whirrs as a question, and gives a little sigh. "I'm bored" she complained, "Everybody's busy. Please will you play with me?" she asks, and she pushes her bottom lip out. It's called a pout, I think. It's rather cute…

How can I play hide and seek with her? I mean, I'm her home. If she's hiding anywhere in her home, which is me, then I'll know, won't I? Where are the others, anyway? Oh, that's right; she's here with me because they are all trying to defuse a war – well, Thief is trying to defuse a bomb – no, Thief, it's the blue wire – oh, and now he's gone and lowered the countdown to five minutes. Maybe it's for the best that the child…no, Emily isn't with them…

I beep and make my lights flash to show her I agree. I can't say no to that cute little face…she beams and claps her hands. "Yay!" she cheers, "Okay, you count to…um…ten thousand, cos you can count quicker than I can, and I'll go hide. Ready…go!" Just like that, she's off and running up the corridor, giggling all the while. I run ten thousand calculations and observe the past of fifty planets whilst I'm waiting for her to hide. I try – will try – am trying really hard not to be aware of where she is, but that's the thing, I'm always aware.

She's hiding in a cupboard in one of the kitchens. I knew she'd hide there as soon as she suggested playing hide and seek. That's the trouble with playing hide and seek with a time machine…you can't win. I made – no, I made the blender switch on. She gets curious and peeks out to see who's there, and I switch it off and she realises… "Oh, you found me! Good job! Now it's my turn" she decides, closing her eyes and counting. "One, two, three, four"-

I hum at her, and she looks up, and she frowns. "Oh…yeah" she sighs, "I guess you can't really hide from me, huh?"

I'm afraid not. I watched – no, watch as she screws her little face up in thought. "Oh, I've got an idea! We can play explorers. You just gotta guide me to a room…ooh, I can make a map! I just gotta go and get some…paper?" She blinks in surprise when paper and a pencil appear on the table. I've lowered it for her as well. She scrambles up and draws a box in the middle at the bottom, and in the box she scribbles '_KITCHEN'. _

Then she takes the paper and pencil and leaves the kitchen and looks up at the ceiling. I flash my lights to show her which way to go, and she draws an arrow going left, pressing the paper against the wall. Perhaps I should have given her a book to lean on…oh well. She goes left until she gets to another corner, and draws a line going right. Left, right, left again, right again…she zig zags all the way to the swimming pool. When she gets there, she smiles and draws another box, and writes '_POOL' _in it.

This is actually quite fun! I guide Emily to a room, so long as I know she can go in there, and she scribbles on her 'map' all the directions and rooms. Soon she has to use the other side of the page, and all her arrows are going every which way. Of course, since everyone is busy trying to stop a war, and they all need to be there – the Lady and Chancellor to negotiate and convince them to stop, Thief and Pirate need to switch off their weapons and stop their doomsday plans – they left me as baby-sitter.

I take it very seriously. I know before she does that Emily is – was – will be getting hungry, and when that happens, I guide her to another kitchen – I have loads, I don't know why, most of them are never used. The lady left her some sandwiches in this kitchen fridge, and some crisps, and an apple that Pirate carved a smiley winking face onto. Just like the Orange one… Emily has her lunch, and a drink of orange juice, and then she wants to go exploring again but I know what she really needs, and the first room I guide her to is the loo.

It isn't long before I sense that my pilots are returning, so I guide Emily all the way from the observatory to the console room. She gets there just in time; the Doctor and Romana come through the door, and Emily runs up and jumps into their arms. "Oh, sweetheart!" the Lady smiles, hugging her little girl, "We missed you so much", and she kisses Emily's forehead, and Emily squirms and giggles when Thief tickles her.

"Were you okay? We're sorry we left you on your own for so long. This was meant to be a quick fix" he apologises. Emily nods her little head and says, "I had lots of fun! The TARDIS and I played explorers all day. Look at my map!"

She shows them her map, a confusing series of arrows pointing every which way, and small boxes…they smile and nod and tell her it looks great, and Pirate gets an idea and suggests going to a maze. So they put in the co-ordinates and I take them to a hedge maze that from above looks like a Chinese puzzle box. Everyone troops out, and Emily is riding on Thief's shoulders, and I settle down to wait for them. Until we play again, little one.


End file.
